A woman who called her one-year-old foster child a "top t***" and "s*** bag" shook him to death after she lost her temper because he would not stop crying.
Laura Castle, 38, and her husband Scott, 35, were looking after Leiland-James Corkill for only five months before the toddler was tragically killed. 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 from August 2020 by authorities in Cumbria.
The court heard how the couple struggled to bond with him and concerns were raised in November 2020 when Laura Castle said she did not love the little boy she had initially wanted to adopt. The following month, the Castles were told by a senior social worker she would not support any application to formally adopt Leiland-James at that stage and recommended further therapeutic parenting sessions.
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The possibility of removing Leiland-James from their home was discussed but Laura Castle said her extended family loved him so he was “not going anywhere”. As concerns remained about the lack of emotional bond, a review by social services was set to take place in the new year.
Sadly, in the morning of January 6 in 2021, Leiland-James suffered catastrophic head injuries at the family's home in Burrow-in-Furness. Laura Castle contacted emergency services and claimed that the little boy had fallen off the sofa, injured his head and was struggling to breathe.
However, the extent of his injuries did not match her account and hospital staff raised the alarm. Laura Castle lied to police, as well as family and friends and said the death was "a tragic accident" while her husband, a night shift worker, was asleep.
She stuck to her story until the day the jury was sworn in last month for her trial at Preston Crown Court when she pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Her new version of events was 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 on to the floor.
Following the couple's arrest, detectives found derogatory text messages on their mobile phones in which they called the little boy names and discussed hitting him. Laura Castle wrote the youngster was a “proper nob head”, “s*** bag” and “top t***”, while her husband said he was a “d*** baby”, “fat s***” and “toss bag”.
The former care worker claimed the messages reflected her “sense of humour” and should not be taken literally, while her husband said that he was now “ashamed” of them and did not mean malice but was trying to sympathise with his wife. In the messages, Laura Castle also said on several occasions that she had “leathered” Leiland-James, although she told the jury that only meant smacking.
In one exchange in September 2020 she wrote: ”I’m seriously at my wits end, no-one tells you about all this shit. I’m just an abusive parent so it seems.”
Scott Castle responded: “Your not an abusive parent, baby. Not at all. Don’t say that. I think he’s a little too f***ed up for us to handle. Let’s just call it quits. I don’t want you to have a mental break down. Your more important to me than him.”
Leiland-James died on January 7 with medical experts telling the court that the degree of force required to cause his injuries would have been "severe" and likely 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 Laura Castle denied intending to kill Leiland-James or seriously harm him but jurors took just two-and-half hours on Tuesday to convict her of murder. She was also convicted of child cruelty against Leiland-James. Sentencing will take place next Wednesday.
Scott Castle, a machinist at defence firm BAE Systems, 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.
