Lola James: Mother and her ‘monster’ partner jailed over two-year-old’s murder in Pembrokeshire
A mother and her “monster” partner have been jailed over the death of a two-year-old girl.
Kyle Bevan, 31, was given a life sentence for murdering Lola James, the daughter of his partner, in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, with a minimum term of 28 years.
Lola’s mother, Sinead James, was sentenced to six years for causing or allowing her death – but will serve half before she’s eligible for release.
Sinead James was sentenced to six years
The attack at the hands of Bevan took place on 17 July 2020, with Lola dying four days later.
Medical experts noted 101 separate injuries to her body, including a “catastrophic” brain injury.
Kyle Bevan, 31, was given a life sentence
Judge Mr Justice Griffiths said he was sure Bevan “was responsible for multiple assaults on the children before he murdered Lola”.
“He [Bevan] didn’t get emergency help, he didn’t wake Lola’s mum up. Instead he tried to cover his tracks,” the judge added.
“He moved Lola’s body around, callously photographing it and even filming it at one stage.”
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Moment murderer is jailed for life
Before sentencing, Lola’s grandmother, Nicola James, appealed directly to Bevan, saying: “Look at me Kyle.”
He barely reacted and showed no sign of remorse, while James was in floods of tears.
“There isn’t a single moment of any day that I don’t think of Lola,” said Ms James.
“Lola was nearly three when she was killed, she had her whole life ahead of her. She’ll never grow up, never get old.”
The court heard Lola was a “charming, smiley, bubbly, mischievous little girl”.
Ms James ended her statement by again speaking directly to Bevan in the dock.
“Kyle. You took the young innocent life of my granddaughter,” she said. “You killed my Lola and you have broken her family.”
Lola James was described as a ‘charming, smiley, bubbly, mischievous little girl’
Daniel Thomas, Lola’s father, said his daughter was “as bright as the golden sun” in a statement read on his behalf.
“Lola won’t have another birthday or ride a bike or listen to her favourite story,” he said.
“I will never get to meet my daughter as a teenager or a woman.”
He said he missed his daughter “every single day”.
‘Pushed by the dog’
Bevan, from Aberystwyth, claimed Lola had fallen down the stairs after the family dog – an American bulldog – pushed her.
During the trial, Sinead James called Bevan a “monster” who “needs to rot in hell”.
“If I had got him out of the house my daughter would still be alive today,” she said.
Bevan blamed Lola’s injuries on the dog pushing her down the stairs. Pic: CPS
The judge described Lola’s mother as “very remorseful” and “genuinely devastated” about her death.
But he said James did not live in fear of Bevan and, when she wanted to, could “remove herself and her children from Kyle Bevan and to berate him when she thought he deserved it”.
The judge added that she showed a “failure to respond to warnings about Kyle Bevan and his behaviour”.
During the four-week trial at Swansea Crown Court, the jury heard how Lola was murdered as Sinead James was asleep upstairs.
She said Bevan had woken her at around 7.20am to tell her Lola had fallen down the stairs and that the dog had “pushed her”.
Lola James’s bedroom. Pic: CPS
She told 999 operators Lola’s face was “swollen” and she was “really scared” after finding her unresponsive on the sofa.
Police believed Bevan had tried to clean the bath after putting Lola in there – as the rest of the house was generally dirty – either to try to revive her or clean her of blood and vomit.
Investigators found a grey onesie stained by both in the corner of the living room.
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NSPCC Cymru has called for child protection to be made a “national priority” following Lola’s death.
The charity’s assistant director, Tracey Holdsworth, said the girl’s future had been “cruelly taken away”.
“The Child Practice Review into Lola’s death must establish whether more could have been done by agencies to save her, and drive the action required to help prevent such tragic cases in the future,” she added.
A “technical issue” at British Airways has delayed flights, reportedly for thousands of passengers.
Travel journalist Simon Calder said on X: “British Airways IT system failure is causing delays of 1-2 hours on many BA flights this evening… As delays build up I fear there will be cancellations tonight/tomorrow.”
In a statement on Monday evening, British Airways said flights were “currently operating, but are experiencing delays” and that its teams were working to “resolve a technical issue affecting some of our systems”.
Later they said it had been resolved: “Our teams worked hard to resolve an issue we experienced for a short time earlier this evening.
“We’ve apologised to customers for delays to their flights and ensured they were able to reach their destinations as planned.”
Earlier media reports suggested dozens of flights were grounded and that communications systems were affected.
One X user pictured people queueing on the tarmac in Verona, Italy. “What has happened to the nations airline? Not fit for purpose,” they said.
Replying to another X user BA said: “Our website is down. We are doing all we can to return online as soon as possible.
“Hopefully not too long before the Captain has his load sheet. Thanks for your understanding. Have a good journey when it is safe for you to be airborne.”
A spokesperson for Heathrow Airport said: “We are aware of a technical issue that British Airways are investigating, and we will be working with them to provide updates to passengers as soon as they are available. Heathrow systems are operating as normal.”
In June many British Airways (BA) flights in Heathrow were delayed by several hours by a “technical fault” with baggage handling.
BA said there had been a “temporary technical fault” which had disrupted its baggage system at the airport and had apologised for the problems it caused.
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In January “intermittent issues” with the airline’s app and website meant customers could not access them.
BA’s customer score for long-haul flights was the joint third lowest out of 17 carriers analysed by Which? in February.
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