PA
A father has said he was robbed of seeing his son grow up after the boy suffered “extreme brutality” in a “frenzied” attack by his mother and her ex-boyfriend.
Sam Phillips said his “world stopped” and would never be the same again when he learned of 18-month-old Alfie Phillips’ death in November 2020.
Sian Hedges, 27, and her former partner Jack Benham, 35, were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday to life imprisonment with minimum terms of 19 years and 23 years respectively for the whisky and cocaine-fuelled killing of Alfie.
Alfie died with 70 injuries to his body after the “cruel and brutal” attack by Hedges and Benham in his caravan in Hernhill, Kent.
The little boy died with a “myriad of bruises”, broken ribs, arms and a leg, and traces of cocaine in his body, on November 28 2020, the court heard.
On sentencing, Mr Justice Cavanagh detailed Alfie’s injuries from the “vicious and brutal assaults” including that he had been bitten and crushed, and had been assaulted by Benham in the days leading up to his murder.
Of the main attack, the judge said: “It must have taken some considerable time to inflict these injuries on Alfie, and the pain and fear that he must have suffered is almost unimaginable.”
The pair were found guilty of Alfie’s murder after a nine-week trial where a unanimous verdict was reached in under 10 hours by the jury on November 30 2023.
Hedges, of Yelverton, Devon, and Benham, of Hernhill, Kent, had denied harming Alfie, and instead tried to cover up their actions and blamed each other, the court heard.
In a victim impact statement read in court, Alfie’s father Mr Phillips said: “After the trial we still feel we deserve answers. I will never know the truth about what happened to my son.
“I never got to hear him say his first proper words, I never got to have a conversation with him, I was robbed of the opportunity to see him grow up.”
In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Cavanagh said it was a “great tragedy” Alfie did not have the chance to “enjoy a full and happy life”.
He said: “He (Alfie) had a cheeky grin and was full of energy and life. He was into everything and interested in everything. He melted the hearts of everyone he met.”
Addressing the defendants, Mr Justice Cavanagh also said Alfie’s pain would have been heightened by the “shock” that the assaults were being carried out by his own mother and her boyfriend.
And referring to drugs and alcohol, the judge added: “Indeed, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that these terrible events would not have taken place were it not for the fact that you were taking crack cocaine or cocaine and that drugs had become the main focus of your lives.”
During the trial, Benham admitted he and Hedges were drug addicts who would regularly do drugs around her son.
The father-of-two told the court they began their relationship in about September 2020 after meeting at a mutual friend’s house where they would buy drugs.
On the night before Alfie died, Benham said Hedges went to buy drugs from their friend and repay her a £400 debt, and also to get mixers and drinks for their evening together in the caravan.
During the sentencing, Mr Justice Cavanagh said he had no doubt Alfie had woken up during that evening and became an “inconvenience and irritation”.
He said this angered the couple, particularly Benham, who was frustrated they could not get more drugs that night.
The judge said: “You decided to teach him a lesson. The injuries were inflicted in an attempt to control, discipline, and punish this small child.”
He described Benham as the “prime mover” in the attacks and said Hedges played a “secondary role”, telling her: “You were at least to some extent a participant in the assaults – you certainly bit Alfie – and, furthermore, you encouraged and assisted Jack Benham in his assaults.
“You were Alfie’s mother and he deserved your protection.”
Both Hedges’ and Benham’s sentences are minus 313 days already spent in custody on remand.
Speaking outside court on Friday, Mr Phillips said: “They finally got what they deserved.
“We have got the justice in our hearts. Justice has been done.”
In a statement after the sentencing, Kent Police’s senior investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Kathleen Way, said: “Hedges and Benham inflicted unimaginable suffering on Alfie during a night of violence.
“Throughout the investigation they refused to admit what they had done and chose to put the rest of Alfie’s family, who loved him dearly, through the ordeal of a trial. As a result they had to hear the grim catalogue of injuries and abuse he had suffered.
“This was a harrowing case for all those involved.”
Speaking outside of court, DCI Way said some of the difficulties in the case were around the pathology, injuries, and the “huge amount of time to understand what happened to Alfie”.
She added: “I think Alfie was fine when he went into that caravan.
“Who did what to Alfie, we will never know.”
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