A jury have found a foster-mum-to-be guilty of murdering a one-year-old she was planning to adopt. Laura Castle, 38, had previously admitted to the manslaughter of Leiland-James Corkhill, but denied his murder.
She wept in the dock as Preston Crown Court heard she would be "forever remembered as a baby killer with all the stigma attached to the term". The baby died at the home in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, which she shared with her husband Scott Castle, 35, in January, 2021.
Leiland-James died from catastrophic head injuries after living with his prospective adoptive parents for less than five months. You can get more court news and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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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 in August, 2020, reports The Mirror.
Castle rang for an ambulance on the morning of January 6 last year and reported Leiland-James had fallen off the sofa, injured his head and was struggling to breathe. However, hospital medics raised concerns as the extent of his injuries did not match her account.
Little Leiland-James died the following day as Castle stuck to her story that his death was a tragic accident while her husband was asleep, until the jury was sworn in last month and she pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Her new version of events was that 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 onto the floor.
Jurors were told the couple had undergone a rigorous process by Cumbria County Council in being allowed to look after Leiland-James, who was taken into care at birth. This process included "therapeutic parenting sessions" in which prospective adopters were taught how to be more nurturing and never to use corporal punishment.
The court heard how in November, 2020, concerns were raised that Castle had said during a home visit she did not love Leiland-James and was struggling to bond with him. Detectives found text messages on the defendants' phones which were derogatory toward Leiland-James.
Castle wrote the youngster was a "proper k**b head", "s**t bag" and "top t**t", while her husband said he was a "d**k baby", "fat s**t" and "toss bag". She said the texts reflected her "sense of humour" while her husband said he did not mean malice and was trying to sympathise with his wife.
Medical experts told the court that the degree of force required to cause his injuries would have been “severe” and likely to be a combination of shaking and an impact with a solid surface.
Prosecutor Michael Brady QC said it was the Crown’s case that 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 Castle denied intending to kill Leiland-James or seriously harm him but jurors took just two-and-a-half hours today to convict her of murder. She was also convicted of child cruelty against Leiland-James.
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.
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