Leiland-James Corkhill Trial

[EllieQ]

Has anyone else been following this case? I’ve found it very distressing that both the parents thought that smacking a baby was acceptable, especially after they had been through the adoption vetting process. And they seemed annoyed that the baby was unsettled when he moved from foster care to live with them.

I really feel for the birth mother as well. He was removed at birth, presumably because he was at risk of harm, but I assume that she knows what happened. How awful for her.

Leiland-James Corkill: Couple 'struggled to bond with baby' www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-61422121

An updated article. Can’t get my head round the prospective father saying ‘you’re smacking him on the bum to get him to settle’ - WTF? Glad the judge questioned that.

Leiland-James Corkill: Prospective dad 'not to blame for death' www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-61437692

I have only just read about this case today as I didn't see it in the headlines. It's absolutely shocking! How many babies and children are hurt every week in the UK?! If the couple weren't coping they should have done something about it.

I was so upset to hear read that thr neighbor didn’t report them to not upset them. Poor innocent boy 😔💔

”Jane Lloyd said she would hear "frequent" shouting and swearing over the sound of her own television, as well as "the sound of like a slap followed by crying".
The regularity of the noises increased in the run-up to Leiland-James's death, the jury was told.
"The shouting was nearly everyday and what sounded like smacking was two to three times a week," she said.
'Toys thrown'
Prosecutor Michael Brady QC asked if Mrs Lloyd ever reported her concerns to the authorities, to which she replied: "No, that's one thing that's not sitting right at all."
When asked why not, she said the Castles would have known it was her and she wanted to avoid an "awkward situation with the neighbours".

This makes my blood boil.
All of it does, but if you even slightly suspect an innocent defenseless child is being abused you DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!
Sometimes feel like these horrendous child abuse cases are so frequent it's hard not to hate humanity a little.
As a mother, no fuck that, as a human being, I cannot begin to comprehend looking at that little face and hurting him. It's disgusting, they're all disgusting.

That's awful 😔

I’m horrified that they would have had to pay £170 to end the adoption process. So ludicrous.

I mean what could possibly go wrong with an policy like that? 🙄

Yes, that was a real WTF moment (though it seems to have disappeared from the BBC reports?).

It sounds as though social services had some concerns about how they were coping before he was murdered.

Leiland-James Corkill: Social worker 'shocked' at force used on baby www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-61310446

I can't hear the horrible names they called him in their texts. He was just a baby.

Bear, not hear

This very distressing case case is concluding today. There is so little reporting on it. Perhaps there are reporting restrictions because it concerns a foster child. Seems strange it's hardly being reported in the media at all.

I think it’s strange there’s not much reporting but I do wonder if there’s an agenda there.

I hadn’t thought about reporting restrictions. It is on the BBC news app again today, but not on the front page or on the UK or England pages - I had to search for Cumbria to find it:

Leiland-James Corkill case: Laura Castle 'forever known as baby killer' www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-61465170

This newspaper has had court updates daily:

www.nwemail.co.uk/news/20141230.live-updates-leiland-corkill-trial-day-ten/?fbclid=IwAR0kctx48lELGNK2J8QYdkxkMIuxuWozUsi2CNPRiCpKchFIF6ppkTT0Z34

She's been found guilty, it was on the news on Absolute Radio

• of murder

It has been reported on North West Tonight and I expect the verdict will be covered tonight.
It was mentioned quite early on that SS had reservations about recommending the couple as suitable to go on to adopt him.
Someone has things to answer about why a looked after child was left in a situation where they could be murdered. A fee to end the fostering process? Fucking ridiculous.

Her dh is v lucky not to be convicted of causing or allowing a death of a child - she told him in texts that she was harming him. So sad.

Yes, it appears her DH hasn’t been found guilty of any charges:

Leiland-James Corkill: Laura Castle guilty of murdering baby www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-61479420

This is becoming too much of an occurrence now. Babies and children dying at the hands of abusive parents/ step parents.

How could anyone hurt that little boy ,and look him in the face.

Hope she rots in jail for life but nothing will compensate for what she did.

I fail to see how her husband can be innocent of all charges. He was aware she was in her own words 'leathering' him on a regular basis. He did nothing.

I am so gutted reading about this. The poor little thing. What a miserable short life. She deserves to rot in jail. Actually she deserves worse than that but at the very least I hope they throw away the key.

There seems to be a new one of these cases in the press every week

She didn’t even have the decency to plead guilty. Dragging the family through all of that trauma that a trial entails was her second unforgivable act.

Really horrible story
He was such a beautiful little thing

The BBC report says Leiland James was 13 months old and weighed 30kg. Is that a typo? That's the average weight of a 9 year old.
Poor lad.
£170 get-out fee is bonkers.
They probably wouldn't have handed him back anyway- people bad or mad enough to do that to a child would've likely been thran enough to not admit it wasn't working, but still, why throw any obstacles in people's way?
Perhaps there are good explanations for both things but I can't think what they would be.