Horrific texts have revealed how a dad who killed his baby son alongside his partner "did not want him in the house".
Parents Shannon Marsden and Stephen Boden have been found guilty of murdering son Finley after horrific abuse which culminated in his death on Christmas Day, 2020.
The court heard the pair were "in it together" on subjecting their 10-month-old son to the abuse, with the infant found to have suffered 130 "appalling" injuries.
Text messages sent to relatives showed the pair's indifference to the abuse going on as they stayed and conspired together despite incidents of domestic abuse and frequent drug use, to inflict “repeated acts of violence” on their son.
One particularly disturbing message sent from a phone belonging to the couple described wanting "to bounce him off the walls".
Marsden, 22, and 30-year-old Boden were convicted of Finlay's murder at Derby Crown Court after a jury heard the pair repeatedly lied to hide their abuse from the police, social services and their own families.
The pair, who met while Marsden was 17, enjoyed smoking cannabis together which the court heard contributed to Finley being made subject to a child protection plan a month before he was even born.
When a family court ordered that Finley be returned to his parents in October 2020, the pair reduced their cannabis use in an effort to convince social services that they were responsible parents.
But after Finley returned to the family home in Old Whittington, Derbyshire, in November, cannabis use became commonplace.
Money sent by relatives for the children was spent on drugs, with one drug deal witnessed by a social worker two days before Finley’s death.
Boden later admitted to smoking the drug in the same room as his son.
The couple’s relationship was turbulent, with Boden and Marsden being heard arguing by neighbours as early as 2019.
On December 12 2020, Marsden texted a relative saying Boden “did not want Finley in the house”, and that he could not “give two shits if I was still here or not”.
Marsden later searched for emergency housing in Chesterfield, while Boden told his cannabis dealer that his partner and son were “doing my nut in”.
On December 21, days before Finley’s fatal collapse, Marsden messaged another relative saying: “Get the police to mine, tell them I’m scared of Stephen around the baby.
“He’s just hit me again… tell them he’ll kill me. He just tried.
“Please, I will be dead. Not joking.”
While Marsden stayed, neither she nor Boden took him to a GP or hospital, stopping family members and social services from seeing him.
When paramedics arrived in the early hours of Christmas Day, they noticed Finley had dirty fingernails and clothes, and believed he had been dead for longer than Boden and Marsden were suggesting.
They said the house was “very untidy and unclean”, with a strong smell of cannabis, with other health workers saying the house was “extremely dirty and smelly and very cluttered”.
After Finley was pronounced dead, the pair told a series of lies, offering different accounts to different people, at different times, of the details of their son’s illness.
Mrs Prior said: “When they were called in to say goodbye, Marsden said she was sorry to Finley and that she had let him down.
“Boden was shouting at Marsden and seemed to be hurrying them up to leave the hospital. Boden said that he was selling the pushchair and would put it on eBay.
“Nurse Amanda Turner heard him say that he had taken pictures of the pram to sell it.”
Later on Christmas Day, the couple were heard asking what food was to be served at a family dinner and were seen laughing and joking at a family gathering on Boxing Day, with Boden later telling a relative that they delayed calling an ambulance so they could hide their drugs.
Blood, faeces and saliva were seen on Finley’s cot and on clothes alongside bottles of gone-off milk and signs of cannabis use.
On January 11 2021, Marsden saw Finley in a mortuary and was heard saying: “His dad’s battered him to death. I didn’t protect him.”
The pair were found guilty at the court on Friday, as trial judge Mrs Justice Tipples choked back tears thanking the jury for its "extremely impressive" conduct through proceedings, excusing them from further jury service for life.
"I would like to thank you for your dedication, commitment and patience in carrying out this extremely important public service", she said.
"Given the length of this case and the awful nature of the facts you have had to consider, I discharge you from jury service to life."
As she spoke, at least four members of the jury were in tears, while the defendants sat, silent, unmoving, arms folded and looking on, in the nearby dock.
NSPCC chief executive Sir Peter Wanless described the abuse as "harrowing and difficult to comprehend".
"Finley was one of 36 children who died in England following abuse and maltreatment at home in 2020 alone."
