Alfie Phillips murder: Mother Sian Hedges and her ex-boyfriend Jack Benham jailed for murdering toddler in ‘frenzied attack’
The mother of an 18-month-old boy and her former partner have been given life sentences for his murder.
Alfie Phillips was beaten and smothered, suffering 70 injuries to his body, including a “myriad of bruises” and broken ribs, arms and legs, in what prosecutors described as a night of “violent discipline”.
His mother, Sian Hedges, 27, and her ex-boyfriend Jack Benham, 35, had been drinking whisky and taking cocaine. Traces of the Class A drug were found in Alfie’s body, Maidstone Crown Court was told.
The pair were found guilty of murdering the toddler in Benham’s caravan in Hernhill, near Faversham, Kent, on 28 November 2020.
Sian Hedges and Jack Benham. Pic: Kent Police
In his sentencing remarks, the judge said Alfie suffered “unimaginable pain” in the “frenzied attack”.
They were both given life sentences, with Benham jailed for a minimum term of 23 years while Hedges was given a minimum term of 19 years.
Following the guilty verdicts in November, Alfie’s father, Sam Phillips, described his son as “good as gold” and “lively”, adding there was “never a dull moment” with him.
Speaking after today’s sentencing, he said: “They finally got what they deserved.
“We have got the justice in our hearts.
“Justice has been done.”
Alfie Phillips
The court heard Benham and Hedges started a relationship in September 2020 after meeting at a mutual friend’s house where they would buy drugs.
They gave explanations for earlier injuries Alfie suffered in the months before his death, claiming he cut his eye when playing with keys and hurt his fingers when they were caught in a dog gate.
The court heard Benham sent Hedges a text encouraging her to bite her son “hard” after she messaged him: “Little s*** bit my arm this morning, f****** hurt.”
In other messages, Benham called Alfie a “cry baby” and “little sod”, saying he was going to “poke him in the ear” after he turned off his caravan heater.
Benham claimed he and Hedges had been drinking, chatting and watching YouTube videos on a “just normal” evening before Alfie died.
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Moment Alfie Phillips’ mother arrested
Night of ‘violent discipline’
But prosecutor Jennifer Knight KC accused Benham of lying and told jurors: “It is clear that he [Alfie] 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.”
Alfie’s father: ‘I will never know the truth about what happened’
Both Hedges, of Yelverton, Devon, and Benham denied harming Alfie during the trial.
Benham claimed he woke up with the boy under his leg and thought he had suffocated him.
In a victim impact statement read in court, 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.”
Commenting on the sentencing, Will Bodiam from CPS South East, said: “This is an absolutely tragic case. Alfie was killed by the two people, one of whom was his own mother, who were responsible that night for looking after him and protecting him.
“Instead, they subjected him to a series of assaults during the course of that fateful night, leaving him with devastating injuries that he could not survive.”
A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.
Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.
The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.
“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.
The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.
The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.
In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.
Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon
Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.
The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.
It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.
“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”
Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.
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