September 2019: Shannon Marsden informs social services she is 20 weeks pregnant.
October 2019: Derbyshire county council social services begin court proceedings in relation to the unborn child, and its parents, Marsden and Stephen Boden, are subject to regular drug-testing and checks on their home.
16 January 2020: A social worker visits the defendants’ address in Old Whittington, Chesterfield, and finds holes in the bedroom door and walls.
18 February 2020: Finley is removed from the defendants’ care just days after being born.
1 October 2020: A family court directs that Finley should be returned to the care of the defendants under an eight-week plan including unsupervised visits and overnight stays of varying duration, with a 12-month supervision order monitoring home conditions.
However, a report by the family’s social worker had recommended a six-month transition instead, due to concerns about their parenting capabilities.
17 November 2020: Finley is allowed to live permanently with his parents.
19 November 2020: A social worker visits the family home and notes Finley has a four-centimetre bump on his forehead. His parents say this was caused by playing with a toy.
27 November 2020: A social worker makes an unannounced visit to the couple’s home where Finley is seen asleep, unsupervised, on the sofa downstairs, while Marsden and Boden are upstairs, “listening to music”. This was the last time the social worker saw Finley alive.
23 December 2020: A social worker visits the family home but is unable to go inside. Boden comes to the door and says the baby is asleep so cannot be seen. The social worker sees Marsden about 100 yards down the road conducting an exchange that “looked like a drug deal”.
Evidence shows that on the same day Finley was registered for a Covid test and Marsden searched on the internet for symptoms of sepsis. She says Boden told her she was “overthinking” and being “delusional”.
6.45pm on 24 December 2020: The defendants take Finley to Tesco Express, when he would have been suffering from sepsis and multiple broken bones.
2.33am on 25 December 2020: Boden carries Finley, who was not breathing, downstairs and wakes Marsden, who was sleeping on the sofa. They call 999 and begin CPR. Paramedics arrive to find Marsden “upset and screaming”, and Finley without a pulse. He is taken to hospital and pronounced dead about an hour later.
