Leiland-James Corkill was 13 months old when she was murdered by her adoptive woman, Laura Castle.
Laura was tried and convicted by a jury in England for murder and cruelty to children.
This is the story of how the search for a permanent home for an abandoned baby ended in tragedy.
Leiland-James was born on December 21, 2019. Two days after his birth, he was handed over to the Cumbria County Guardian Council in England, which placed him in the care of an adoptive family until the adoption took effect.
For the first eight months of her short life, her stepmother, Charlotte Day, said Leiland-James was “a very happy and contented child”.
He loved to jump in the car seat, listen to stories, move around and cuddle.
However, Day said he doesn’t like to travel by car and grunts as dinner approaches.
Leiland-James began to cry more and lose weight, eventually leading to a diagnosis of pyloric stenosis, a narrowing of the small intestine that prevents milk from reaching the stomach.
However, after the surgery, he regained his health and was on the growth curve.
Picture: CUMBRIA POLICE
Good news came in May 2020. A family from Barrow, an industrial town on the Cumbria coast, has expressed interest in adopting him.
Scott and Laura Castle knew they wanted kids right after they met one Christmas Eve in 2005.
However, it was not an easy process and fertility problems caused Laura to become depressed and she eventually quit her nursing home job.
The couple continued to consider adopting a child and officially started the process in 2019.
They went through interviews, visits and trainings. His family and friends were also examined by social workers.
All was well for Leiland-James to gain a permanent home.
Image: Getty Images
Day said he loved the couple when he came to his house to meet Castles Leiland-James in July.
The following month, the boy moved in with his new family and hopes were high that he had finally found permanent shelter.
But these hopes were short-lived.
‘Relationship difficulties’
Castles said that Leiland-James cried a lot, especially at night, and the couple had trouble bonding with him.
“I don’t think he likes us,” Laura said during the court hearing.
It was Laura, practically alone, who looked after Leiland-James as Scott worked nights in a factory.
In the weeks after Leiland-James arrived, she and her husband exchanged several messages complaining about the child and saying that she should stop hitting him because she feared one day she might not be able to stop him.
In court, the Rooks tried to downplay the language they used. That’s not what really happened, they said. Did they claim they didn’t beat the boy? at most, they would slap their hands or hips just once to “shock rather than hurt”.
Laura also said that the phrase “devil’s spawn”, which she used in conversations with her husband, was a humorous way of describing Leiland-James. and therefore, she did not reflect how she treated her son.
In their defense, the two said they raised Leiland-James as they were brought up and admitted to spanking him despite agreeing with the Cumbria County Council’s zero-tolerance approach to corporal punishment.
Laura says she’s tried the therapeutic approach the board has requested, but it doesn’t always work.
Social workers were aware of the difficult relationship between Castles and Leiland-James.
Death
In November, they expressed their concerns when they learned that Laura had said she didn’t feel like she loved Leiland-James, and the following month they noticed that the couple didn’t seem “cheerful in everything they had to do.”
However, at that moment, there was no concern for the child’s safety as there were no suspicious marks or bruises on him.
It wasn’t all bad. The couple told the court they had a good day with their son, but “for every step forward they felt like they had taken two steps back.”
He then began to discuss the end of the adoption. Scott said he didn’t know if he could return the child to the guardianship board, while Laura said her parents already loved the child.
There was cake and presents on Leiland-James’ first birthday, and four days later the family celebrated Christmas by posing for photos, all glowing in festive attire.
There were still occasional messages from Laura to her husband complaining that she couldn’t handle the child and criticizing her mood. He responded by supporting the woman, claiming that he did not see her as an abusive mother and that it was the child who turned things upside down.
Scott returned home shortly after 6:00 am on January 6, after a long day at work. He went straight to bed, put on a sleep mask and earplugs.
Two hours later, he awoke with Laura holding onto the boy’s body.
According to him, the boy had fallen off the sofa and lost consciousness. His breathing slowed and his arms and legs relaxed.
He repeated the story to the paramedics who flocked to his home and first to the doctors at Furness General Hospital, and then to the doctors at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, where Leiland-James was taken for emergency treatment.
But the medical staff did not believe him.
‘Baby murderer’
Scans showed extensive brain damage, swelling, and bleeding, and the 13-month-old was pronounced dead at around 3 pm on January 7.
Laura Castle repeated the allegation of falling off the couch to the police, but by this time her lies had already been exposed by pathologists examining Leiland-James’ body.
His tiny body showed the “triple” symptoms of what was once termed shaken baby syndrome, but is now termed a malicious head injury.
He had extensive and extensive bleeding in his brain and eyes, spinal cord injury and whiplash.
Given his age and size, just aggressively jerking him wouldn’t have been the likely cause of the injuries. For example, coroners believed that a piece of furniture had an influence to explain it all.
On the day of her trial, Laura agreed to murder, saying she wanted “justice” for her son.
She said she shook Leiland-James to stop crying, frustrated by the noise, and banging her head on the arm of the sofa.
Prosecutors said it was even worse, that neighbors heard loud noises but no babies screaming.
The prosecution claimed that Laura Castle lost her temper when Leiland-James spit out her cereal and smashed her head against a piece of furniture.
Laura admitted to killing him, but denied that she really intended to cause serious harm or death.
His lawyers argued that he had lost his mind but had never considered taking the boy’s life.
They also said that he would always be known as a baby killer but should not be labeled as such.
Image: Google
The jury disagreed and found him guilty of murder and persecution of children against Leiland-James. However, she cleared him of a second child cruelty charge.
Her husband was found not guilty of causing or allowing her death and two counts of child cruelty.
Scott burst into tears as he told the court he was “heartbroken” and “devastated” when he heard his wife confessed to the murder, unaware that he was lying about what had happened until he admitted he was guilty of murder.
“She’s the love of my life and I never thought she’d lie to me,” said his wife, wiping tears from her face as she cried loudly from a short distance.
Social workers had some concerns about the feasibility of adoption, and a review was scheduled for early January, but Leiland-James was killed before that could happen.
Cumbria County Council said an independent Conservation Practices Review is expected to be published in the coming months.
Many questions remained unanswered, including whether someone could do something to stop what was happening.
Whatever the answer, according to Laura’s own attorney, David McLachlan QC, Leiland-James deserved a chance at life.
And it was stolen from him by the woman who wanted to raise him.
source: Noticias
