As a three-year-old boy lay dying, his stepmother went straight for her phone.
But Leila Borrington did not call 999 right away, instead filming the child and sending the clip to her husband with the message: “Why does this happen to me?”
The boy, Harvey Borrington, was eventually taken to hospital, where after two days he succumbed to “unsurvivable” injuries, including a skull fracture, on 9 August 2021. He was ruled to have died by his stepmother’s hand.
A judge found Borrington, 23, guilty of manslaughter after she fatally wounded Harvey by slapping him “multiple times” around the head.
On Wednesday she was sentenced to 15 years in jail in a hearing at Nottingham Crown Court, also being convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and assault. She was cleared of an alternative charge of murder and two additional assault charges.
Sentencing Borrington, High Court judge Mr Justice Nicklin said the killing had a profound effect on the boy’s loved ones. Harvey’s birth mother, Katie Holroyd, described him as “my beautiful little boy”.
Addressing the court, while her child’s killer sat silent in the dock, she said: “He was everything to me. A treasured grandson to my parents, Sandra and Alan Hoyroyd, who called Harvey their ‘little man’.
“We will always treasure the short time we had to spend with him.
“Harvey’s life was cruelly ended when he was only three years old. To this day I cannot bear to think of him lying on the floor dying with her filming him and delaying getting medical help.”
Harvey’s father, 31-year-old Jonathan Borrington, who was at the cinema when his wife sent him the footage of his son dying, has not commented.
The court heard Mr Borrington and Ms Holroyd separated when Harvey was 14-months-old. The boy stayed with his father and stepmother on the weekend.
It emerged that Harvey’s stepmother had subjected him to a campaign of abuse. The judge said his death must have been the result of a “sustained violent assault” and said text messages Borrington sent in April 2021 after she broke Harvey’s arm in a spiral fracture showed “a shocking lack of care and concern” for the boy.
Other attacks by Borrington left Harvey with marks on his face and ears and a scratch on his back. Borrington told the court that these injuries were either self-inflicted or, in the case of the fracture, caused when she pulled Harvey up as he tripped climbing the stairs.
Prosecutor Jonas Hankin KC argued that Borrington had “twisted and turned” her story to suit the evidence.
He also claimed Borrington targeted Harvey, who had severe non-verbal autism and communicated through hand gestures and a handful of words, because he could not articulate when he was in pain.
On the day she fatally wounded Harvey, Borrington eventually called emergency services but lied to paramedics about what had happened to the boy when they arrived at her home on Main Road, Jacksdale, near Kirkby-in-Ashfield.
A jury, which deliberated for more than 24 hours, cleared Borrington of murder after concluding that she had not intended to kill or cause really serious injury. Jurors also cleared her of three charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The trial was told Harvey sustained fatal head injuries, including a fractured skull and a bleed on the brain. He died in hospital two days later.
Borrington told the trial she had never harmed Harvey, claiming that he had fallen off a sofa.
During the trial, an expert witness called by the prosecution said Borrington’s account “does not explain the extent of the injuries” and added that she believed Harvey died as a result of “direct blunt force trauma” sustained after Borrington “assaulted” the youngster.
Ms Holroyd said some of the evidence was “really, really hard to listen to” and she and her mother had to leave court at times.
Accounts of Harvey’s post-mortem examination from two pathologists was “particularly harrowing”, she said.
“Knowing parts of my baby were removed and sent around the country to establish what happened all because [Borrington] chose to lie. I will never be able to explain and no one will ever be about to understand what this means to me as Harvey’s mum”.
Police who investigated Harvey’s death said they were glad Borrington was jailed.
Detective Inspector Simon Harrison of Nottinghamshire Police said: “This was a disturbing and upsetting case to work on and I am pleased that Borrington has now been sentenced.
“The death of any child is a tragedy, but there is something especially awful about cases of this nature.”
Ms Holroyd said no sentence would make up for the trauma caused by Borrington’s actions: “The pain, the suffering, the loss that we have to deal with as a family will continue for the rest of our lives.”
