A woman was found guilty of murdering a one-year-old baby who she wanted to adopt.
Laura Castle was found guilty of the murder of Leiland-James Corkhill during a trial at Preston Crown Court. The 38-year-old had previously admitted to the manslaughter of the one-year-old but always denied murder.
However, a jury found her unanimously guilty after three hour of deliberations, reports the Mirror. Castle wept uncontrollably in the dock as the jury heard she would be "forever remembered as a baby killer with all the stigma attached to the term".
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The court heard how the youngster had been living with his prospective adoptive parents in their home Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria for less than five months before his death from catastrophic head injuries. The youngster was a "looked-after child" who was taken into care at birth before he was approved to live with his prospective adoptive parents in August 2020.
Castle rang for an ambulance on the morning of January 6 last year and reported Leiland-James had fallen off the sofa, injured his head and was struggling to breathe. The baby boy was rushed to Alder Hey Children's Hospital where medics raised concerns as the extent of his injuries did not match her account.
Little Leiland-James died the following day as Castle stuck to her story that his death was a tragic accident while her husband was asleep until the jury was sworn in last month and she pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Her new version of events was that she had shaken Leiland-James after he had not stopped crying at breakfast and his head hit the arm-rest of the sofa before he fell off her knee onto the floor.
Jurors were told the couple had undergone a rigorous process by Cumbria County Council in being allowed to look after Leiland-James, who was taken into care at birth. This process included "therapeutic parenting sessions" in which prospective adopters were taught how to be more nurturing and never to use corporal punishment.
The court heard how in November 2020, concerns were raised that Castle had said during a home visit she did not love Leiland-James and was struggling to bond with him. Detectives found text messages on the defendants' phones which were derogatory toward Leiland-James.
Castle wrote the youngster was a "proper k**b head", "s**t bag" and "top t**t", while her husband said he was a "d**k baby", "fat s**t" and "t*ss bag". She said the texts reflected her "sense of humour" while her husband said he did not mean malice and was trying to sympathise with his wife.
Medical experts told the court that the degree of force required to cause his injuries would have been “severe” and likely to be a combination of shaking and an impact with a solid surface. Prosecutor Michael Brady QC said it was the Crown’s case she killed the boy as she lost her temper and suggested she smashed the back of his head against a piece of furniture.
Former care worker Castle denied intending to kill Leiland-James or seriously harm him but jurors took just two-and-half hours today to convict her of murder. She was also convicted of child cruelty against Leiland-James.
Scott Castle was found not guilty of allowing Leiland-James’ death. He was also cleared of child cruelty. He said he never had any concerns that anything bad was going to happen with the boy and he trusted his wife.
Castle will be sentenced on May 25.
