A mother and her ex-boyfriend have been found guilty of murdering her 18-month-old son, who suffered over 70 injuries to his body after a ‘wicked and torturous attack’.
Alfie Phillips was beaten to death and smothered during a night of ‘violent discipline’ by the evil pair for being ‘whingey and upset’, carrying out the brutal attack fuelled cocaine, whisky and cannabis until the early hours of morning.
The toddler died with a ‘myriad of bruises’, broken ribs, arms and leg, and traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body after the barbaric attack, which took place in Benham’s caravan in Hernhill, near Faversham, Kent.
Following a nine-week trial at Maidstone Crown Court, Sian Hedges, 27, and Jack Benham, 35, will face life imprisonment for his murder.
The boy was discovered blue and floppy on the morning of November 28 2020, and paramedics said it was ‘immediately apparent’ to them that Alfie had been dead for some time.
18-month-old Alfie Phillips was beaten to death and smothered in an overnight attack by his mother and her former partner after a night of ‘violent discipline’
The youngster was taken back to the caravan at 7pm and was not seen again by anyone other than Benham and Hedges until about 11.30am the following morning. It was during these hours Alfie was brutally murdered by the pair.
Tests showed both had used cocaine and Hedges admitted to police she had taken a £40 bag over the course of three hours after Alfie went to sleep, the prosecution said.
Benham also said he smoked some cannabis, which he did regularly.
The pair also drank whisky and Coke, with Hedges telling police they had their last drink at about 1am and then went to sleep in the same bed as Alfie.
The despicable pair denied harming Alife on the night that the toddler had his life cruelly snatched away from him, with Hedges and Benham pointing the finger at each other.
The court heard Benham, who is not Alfie’s father, said he woke up with the toddler under his leg in bed and he thought he had suffocated him.
Hedges said Alfie stirred but went back to sleep with his dummy. She said he was ‘fine and normal’. She then recalled Benham woke her up saying ‘What the f***’s wrong with him? Oh my God. He’s under my leg’.
She said Alfie was floppy and his lips looked blue and she had a gut feeling he was dead but denied having caused him any injury and said she had no idea how Alfie could have fractured his arms or sustained any serious injury.
In interviews, Benham told police he did not consider himself a step-father figure and rarely did anything for Alfie.
He described Alfie as a ‘mummy’s boy’ and admitted he did not like him. But during the trial he claimed he treated the toddler like ‘one of my own’.
Benham told police Alfie was ‘whingey and upset’ when he was put to bed between 7pm and 8pm on the night of Friday, November 27.
He said they left him to fall asleep without being cuddled, while together they drank whisky and Coke, ‘getting drunk, but not too drunk’.
Jurors reached a unanimous guilty verdict for the murder of little Alfie following deliberations that took nearly 10 hours, that began on Tuesday afternoon.
Prosecutor Jennifer Knight KC had told jurors: ‘It is clear that he had been deliberately injured on more than one occasion, culminating in an assault perpetrated on him during the night of 27 to 28 November 2020 that led to his death.’
She added: ‘Jack Benham and Sian Hedges were in the caravan together throughout the night.
‘Had either defendant not been joining in with the assaults, that defendant who was not part of it would have stopped the attack and removed Alfie Phillips from the caravan, and from the presence of the other who was carrying out these attacks.
‘The fact that this did not happen can only be because both defendants agreed that the assaults should take place…they both agreed in meting out some sort of aggressive, violent discipline to Alfie that night which resulted in his death.’
Sian Hedges, 27, will face life imprisonment for the murder, which took place in Benham’s caravan in Hernhill, near Faversham, Kent
Jack Benham, 35, of Hernhill, Kent, and Hedges, of Yelverton, Devon, will be sentenced on December 19
A skeletal survey and post-mortem examinations indicated many of the breaks to his bones would have occurred in the hours before Alfie’s death.
Speaking after the verdicts were announced, Alfie’s family told of the anguish of having to endure a three-year wait for justice, with many questions still unanswered.
They said: ‘We have had to listen to the horrific details of what Sian and Jack did to Alfie, how they assaulted him again and again.
‘He suffered so much pain. In these years, we have not had the closure, and even after the trial we feel that we still deserve answers.
‘The only people with these answers are Sian and Jack but they have refused to say what happened to him.
‘Still to this day, they have refused to take responsibility.
‘They have never shown any remorse for what they did, and we will never know the truth about what happened to Alfie.
‘Alfie was so cruelly taken from us that day. Every day we are hurting. Our shining light, that shone so bright, will always be in our hearts.
‘We have such special memories of our short time with Alfie and these memories keep us going on the darkest of days.’
The court had heard from Benham how he and Hedges began their relationship around September 2020 through meeting regularly at the same friend’s house where they would buy drugs.
Jurors had heard about older injuries Alfie sustained in the months before his death and their explanations for them, such as a cut under Alfie’s eye from playing with keys and his fingers being caught in the dog gate in Benham’s parents’ home.
Alfie was described as ‘good as gold’ and ‘lively’ by his father, Sam Phillips, adding there was ‘never a dull moment’ with the toddler, who he said was always playing and laughing.
The boy was discovered blue and floppy on the morning of November 28 2020, and paramedics said it was ‘immediately apparent’ to them that Alfie had been dead for some time
Benham, of Hernhill, Kent, and Hedges, of Yelverton, Devon, will be sentenced on December 19.
Reacting to the verdict, Kent Police’s senior investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Kath Way, said: ‘Today’s verdict will not bring Alfie back, but it does mean that Hedges and Benham lose their right to freedom and life as they know it.
‘Alfie should have been protected and loved by his mum, instead Hedges and Benham inflicted unimaginable suffering on him during a sustained and lengthy night of violence.’
She added that the pair refused to admit what they had done and instead subjected Alfie’s family to a trial where details of ‘horrendous abuse’ were detailed.
‘Alfie would have been four now and would have recently started school. Instead, his life was cruelly taken away by those he should have been able to trust the most.’
An NSPCC spokesperson also commenting on ‘heart-breaking’ case said the cruelty inflicted on Alfie is ‘devastating’.
They added: ‘We know that very young children are particularly vulnerable to abuse because they are completely reliant on the adults around them for care and protection.
‘It is so important that anyone who is worried about a child’s safety speaks out about their concerns. People can contact the local authority, the police or the NSPCC Helpline.’