Karl Roger McCluney, 15, inflicted 68 injuries on Demi Leigh Mahon after she was left in his care while her heroin addict mother, Ann Marie McDonald, 31, collected a benefit cheque.

The fatal beating happened in a squalid council flat in Eccles on July 15 last year.

Gary Mahon from Morecambe split from Demi Leigh's mother three months after she was born.

The 41-year-old, who has five other children, said: "I could have seen Demi more. I didn't go there like I should have done but I didn't want to be involved with the kind of people that were going to the flat.
"I heard that Demi was being left here and left there."

He said his daughter was bubbly and outgoing, and added: "She was always smiling and had a cheeky face. She was so loveable. Every time I used to see her she would run to me, shouting, 'Daddy, daddy'."
Speaking of Demi Leigh's killer, he said: "I think the person who did this to her is evil and dangerous."

Demi Leigh was punched repeatedly in the face and the attack was so ferocious that she was left brain damaged. McCluney, of Eccles, admitted manslaughter.

But a jury at Manchester Crown Court found him guilty of murder last week and Mr Justice Sweeney warned him he would serve a minimum of
12 years.

The case was adjourned for pre-sentence reports.