Finley Boden: Mother and father who murdered 10-month-old baby on Christmas Day 2020 jailed
A couple who murdered their 10-month-old son on Christmas Day 2020 just weeks after he was returned to their care have been jailed.
Shannon Marsden, 22, and Stephen Boden, 30, were found guilty in April of the murder of Finley Boden in Derbyshire.
At today’s sentencing, Mrs Justice Tipples told Marsden she would serve a minimum of 27 years behind bars, while Boden was told he would serve at least 29 years in jail.
Finley died just a few weeks after he was placed back into the care of his parents, who burnt and beat the infant – leaving him with 130 separate injuries, including multiple bone breaks and fractures.
His injuries included a fractured thigh and broken pelvis, burn marks and 71 bruises. Finley also had sepsis and endocarditis – an infection of the lining of the heart.
During sentencing, the judge described the pair as “persuasive and accomplished liars” who inflicted “unimaginable cruelty” on their son.
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Finley Boden captured on CCTV before death
She said Finley’s last days “are terrible to describe”, adding that once the injuries had been inflicted the infant’s daily experience was “one of considerable pain, distress and suffering”.
She added: “You both knew that Finley was very seriously ill and dying… yet you deliberately failed to seek any medical help for him and you made sure that he was not seen by anyone that could have rescued him and taken him away from your care.
“Medical intervention would have saved Finley’s life.”
She added that she is sure, given the nature and number of Finley’s injuries, that he was “subject to repeated abuse on multiple occasions”.
Stephen Boden and Shannon Marsden
Baby killed weeks after returning to parents’ full-time care
The judge said the parents lied about Finley having COVID to prevent anyone from coming to see the baby.
The pair killed their son weeks after he returned to their full-time care following a family court order made in October that year, having previously described him as “perfect” and a “cuddly, chunky munchkin”.
Finley Boden died during the COVID lockdown in December 2020
One social worker had warned the court that Finley would be “at risk of suffering from neglect, physical and emotional harm” if Marsden and Boden continued taking illegal drugs or failed to continue making positive changes.
A representative for Derbyshire County Council also told the court hearing that “all parties” agreed Finley should “transition” back to the care of his parents but asked for this to be staged over four months and with the need for additional drug testing.
However, a representative for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), who was representing Finley at the near-two-hour hearing, challenged the four-month transition and said extra regular drug testing was necessary.
Following the sentencing, an NSPCC spokesperson said the abuse inflicted on Finley was “appalling and heartbreaking”.
“The death of a child in such brutal circumstances leaves many of us asking questions and we await the Child Safeguarding Practice Review to establish exactly what happened and any ways in which Finley could have been better protected, in order to help prevent future tragedies,” they added.
‘Savage and brutal’ abuse after return to parents
After Finley returned to their home in Chesterfield in mid-November 2020, his parents began what prosecutors said was a “savage and brutal” campaign of abuse.
Following their baby’s death, Boden was heard mentioning how he would sell Finley’s pram on eBay and the pair were later seen laughing together in a taxi.
During the trial, Boden suggested that Finley’s injuries could have been caused by rocking him too hard, and said that the pram comment was made in an attempt to “lighten the mood”.
It was also said that when visiting Finley’s body in a hospital chapel of rest, Marsden was heard to say: “His dad’s battered him to death. I didn’t protect him.”
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Murdered baby ‘in immense pain’ in final days
The jury saw images of the couple’s cluttered home, including pictures taken by police showing cannabis paraphernalia next to gone off baby milk, and heard how the pair hid their abuse from social workers and family members.
Use of the class B drug was a key theme in the days immediately before Finley’s death, with one drug deal witnessed by a social worker during an unannounced visit in December 2020.
Finley’s clothes and bedding were found to be stained with saliva, blood and faeces.
UK
Andrew Malkinson criticises apology from Criminal Cases Review Commission after he was wrongly jailed for 17 years
A man wrongly jailed for 17 years for a rape he did not commit has said it is “too little too late” after receiving an apology from the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
Andrew Malkinson was jailed in 2003 but eventually released in December 2020.
His charges were quashed last year after new DNA evidence potentially linked another man to the crime.
The CCRC has now offered Mr Malkinson an unreserved apology after the completion of a report from an independent review by Chris Henley KC into the handling of the case.
But reacting to the apology, Mr Malkinson said the time for CCRC chairman Helen Pitcher OBE to apologise was when he was exonerated last summer.
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Malkinson: Wrongly imprisoned for rape
“The CCRC’s delay in apologising to me added significantly to the mental turmoil I am experiencing as I continue to fight for accountability for what was done to me,” Mr Malkinson said.
“The CCRC’s failings caused me a world of pain. Even the police apologised straight away. It feels like Helen Pitcher is only apologising now because the CCRC has been found out, and the last escape hatch has now closed on them.”
He said his lawyer had written to Ms Pitcher last September requesting an apology, to which she refused.
He added: “It is hard for me to see the sincerity in an apology after all this time – when you are truly sorry for what you have done, you respond immediately and instinctively, it wells up in you.”
Earlier on Thursday, Ms Pitcher released a statement saying: “Mr Henley’s report makes sobering reading, and it is clear from his findings that the commission failed Andrew Malkinson. For this, I am deeply sorry. I have written to Mr Malkinson to offer him my sincere regret and an unreserved apology on behalf of the commission.
Addressing beliefs that she was unwilling to apologise, Ms Pitcher added: “For me, offering a genuine apology required a clear understanding of the circumstances in which the commission failed Mr Malkinson. We now have that.
Mr Malkinson protested his innocence for years. Pic: PA
“Nobody can ever begin to imagine the devastating impact that Mr Malkinson’s wrongful conviction has had on his life, and I can only apologise for the additional harm caused to him by our handling of his case.”
Mr Malkinson had applied for his case to be reviewed by the CCRC in 2009, but at the conclusion of its review in 2012 the commission refused to order further forensic testing or refer the case for appeal, amid concerns over costs.
A second application was rejected in 2020.
Read more:
Investigation launched into Andrew Malkinson case
Police and CPS ‘knew another man’s DNA was on victim’s clothes’
Critical DNA evidence had been available since 2007, but no match was found on the police database at the time.
Since Mr Malkinson had his conviction quashed, dozens of rape and murder convictions from before 2016 are set to undergo fresh DNA testing to identify potential miscarriages of justice.
The CCRC said it has re-examined nearly 5,500 cases that it previously rejected in the light of improvement in DNA analysis techniques.
Its initial trawl last summer found around a quarter of the cases are those where the identity of the offender is challenged.
Focusing on those, it says there are potentially several dozen cases where DNA samples could be retested using the DNA 17 technique, first introduced in 2014.
UK
Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell charged in connection with embezzlement of funds from SNP
Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell has been charged by police after he was arrested amid an investigation into the SNP’s funding and finances.
Police said he has been charged in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the party.
The former SNP chief executive, 59, was questioned by detectives after being taken into Police Scotland custody on Thursday at 9.13am.
He remained in police custody until he was charged just after 6.30pm.
Murrell has since been released from custody.
A report will be sent to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in due course.
Murrell is the former chief executive of the SNP. Pic: PA
The police investigation into the party’s funding and finances has been ongoing for years.
It has been dubbed Operation Branchform.
Murrell became chief executive of the SNP in 2001, he stepped down from the role in 2023 having held it for more than 20 years.
He has been married to Ms Sturgeon – who resigned as first minister last February – since 2010.
Dozens of people around the world have been arrested after police disrupted a UK-founded website scamming victims on an industrial scale.
LabHost, a site set up in 2021, tricked as many as 70,000 UK victims, obtaining 480,000 card numbers and 64,000 PINs worldwide, the Metropolitan Police said.
It was created by a criminal network and enabled more than 2,000 users to set up phishing websites designed to steal personal information such as email addresses, passwords and bank details.
Criminal subscribers could log on and choose from existing sites or request bespoke pages replicating those of trusted brands such as banks, healthcare agencies and postal services.
Person arrested in connection with the investigation. Pic: Met Police
The website even provided a tutorial to cater for wannabe fraudsters with limited IT knowledge, with a robotic voice saying at the end: “Stay safe and good spamming”.
Those subscribing to worldwide membership – meaning they could target victims all around the world – paid between £200 and £300 a month.
Since it began, the site has received just under £1m in payments from criminal users.
But just after it was seized and disrupted, its 800 customers got a message telling them that police knew who they were and what they were doing.
Thirty-seven people were arrested around the world, including some at Manchester and Luton airports, as well as in Essex and London.
Detectives have also contacted up to 25,000 UK-based victims to tell them their data has been compromised.
Read more:
Notorious cyber crime gang Lockbit disrupted by NCA, FBI and international coalition
FBI disrupts hacking network ‘linked to Russian intelligence’
Parents of US gun violence victims use AI to recreate their voices
Chinese hackers preparing to ‘wreak havoc’ on US, warns FBI chief
Items seized by the Metropolitan Police. Pic: Met Police
Police began investigating LabHost in June 2022 after they were tipped off by the Cyber Defence Alliance – a group of British-based banks and law enforcement agencies which share intelligence.
Dame Lynne Owens, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, said: “Online fraudsters think they can act with impunity. They believe they can hide behind digital identities and platforms such as LabHost and have absolute confidence these sites are impenetrable by policing.
“But this operation and others over the last year show how law enforcement worldwide can, and will, come together with one another and private sector partners to dismantle international fraud networks at source.”
Adrian Searle, director of the National Economic Crime Centre in the NCA, said: “This operation again demonstrates that UK law enforcement has the capability and intent to identify, disrupt and completely compromise criminal services that are targeting the UK on an industrial scale.”
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