Lying mum and ex-boyfriend jailed after 18-month-old child boy murdered in caravan | UK | News | EUROtoday

A mendacity mum has been jailed alongisde her ex-partner after her 18-month outdated child was murdered in a caravan. Baby Alfie Phillips died after struggling a “myriad of bruises” in a horrific “night of discipline”, a jury was informed. Sian Hedges, 27, and Jack Benham, 35, had been sentenced to life in jail at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday with minimal phrases of 19 years and 23 years respectively for the whisky and cocaine-fuelled killing of Alfie Phillips.

The pair had been discovered responsible of Alfie’s homicide after a nine-week trial the place a unanimous verdict was reached in below 10 hours by the jury. Alfie suffered 70 accidents to his physique within the in a single day assault by Hedges and Benham in his caravan in Hernhill, Kent.

The little boy died with a “myriad of bruises”, damaged ribs, arms and a leg, and traces of cocaine in his physique, on November 28 2020, the court docket heard. Hedges, of Yelverton, Devon and Benham, of Hernhill, Kent, had denied harming Alfie.

In a sufferer affect assertion learn in court docket, Alfie’s devastated father Sam Phillips mentioned: “After the trial we still feel we deserve answers. I will never know the truth about what happened to my son. I never got to hear him say his first proper words, I never got to have a conversation with him, I was robbed of the opportunity to see him grow up.”

In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Cavanagh mentioned it was a “great tragedy” Alfie didn’t have the possibility to “enjoy a full and happy life”.

He mentioned: “He (Alfie) had a cheeky grin and was full of energy and life. He was into everything and interested in everything. He melted the hearts of everyone he met. The victim impact statements of his father, Sam Phillips, and his grandfather, Mark Demain, vividly illustrate how much he was loved and how much grief and devastation his murder has caused to those who loved him. It is a great tragedy that Alfie did not have the chance to grow up and to enjoy a full and happy life.”

Addressing the defendants, Mr Justice Cavanagh described the assault as “cruel and brutal” and criticised their efforts to attempt to cowl up the assault.

He added: “Your first thoughts were for yourselves. You lied about what had happened in the caravan, and you maintained your lies through police interviews and at trial.”

Both Hedges’ and Benham’s sentences are minus 313 days already spent in custody on remand. In an announcement after the sentencing, Kent Police’s senior investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Kathleen Way, mentioned: “Hedges and Benham inflicted unimaginable suffering on Alfie during a night of violence.

“He should have been protected and loved by his mother, but instead lost his life in appalling circumstances. Throughout the investigation they refused to admit what they had done and chose to put the rest of Alfie’s family, who loved him dearly, through the ordeal of a trial. As a result they had to hear the grim catalogue of injuries and abuse he had suffered. maidstoThis was a harrowing case for all those involved.”