A woman has been jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years for the murder of a one-year-old boy she was planning to adopt.
Laura Castle, 38, along with her husband Scott, 35, received Leiland-James Corkill under their care by Cumbrian authorities for less than five months before he died from catastrophic head injuries. Leiland-James was a "looked-after child" who was taken into care at birth before he was approved to live with his potential adoptive parents from August 2020.
However, on the morning of January 6 last year, Laura Castle had called for an ambulance to report that Leiland-James had fallen off the sofa and injured his head - he was struggling to breathe. The young boy tragically died the following day while hospital medics raised concerns over Laura's account of the incident.
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She maintained that the boy's death was an unfortunate accident up until the trial began last month at Preston Crown Court. She entered a guilty plea for manslaughter and stated that she had shaken Leiland-James because he would not stop crying.
Following this, she said, he hit his head on the armrest of a sofa before falling on her knee and landing on the floor. Despite this argument, medical experts told the court that the degree of force required to cause Leiland-James' injuries would have been "severe" and was likely a combination of shaking and an impact with a solid surface.
Prosecutor Michael Brady QC argued the Crown's case that Castle had killed the boy after losing her temper and suggested that she smashed the back of his head against a piece of furniture. Jurors convicted Castle of murder alongside a separate offence for child cruelty.
Sentencing, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker told her: “Precisely what took place on January 6 may never be known as even now I do not consider you told the jury the full circumstances leading up to the death of Leiland-James.
“I consider your account significantly underplays the extent and degree of violence you inflicted.”
Detectives who examined the defendants' mobile phones following an arrest discovered derogatory text messages aimed at Leiland-James. Castle wrote that the youngster was a “proper nob head”, “s*** bag” and “top t**t”, while her husband said he was a “d**k baby” and a “toss bag”.
The court further heard that the Castle couple were selected by an adoption panel after undergoing an application process overseen by Cumbria Children's Services Department. In November 2020, concerns were raised that Laura had said during a home visit that she did not love Leiland-James and was struggling to bond with him.
While the option of removing the youngster from their care was explored, Laura said her extended family loved him so he was "not going anywhere". An independent review of the adoption process is due to provide results in July.
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