The tragic case of a 13monthold baby murdered by the woman who tried to adopt him

Duncan Leatherdale BBC News Online

Posted on 05/19/2022 08:15 / updated on 05/19/2022 08:17

(Image credit: BBC)

LeilandJames Corkill was 13 months old when he was killed by Laura Castle, the woman who wanted to adopt him.

Laura was tried and convicted of murder and child cruelty by a jury in England.

This is the story of how the search for a permanent home for an abandoned baby ended in tragedy.

LeilandJames was born on December 21, 2019. Two days after his birth he was handed over to the Cumbria County Guardianship Council, England, who placed him in the care of an adoptive family pending his adoption.

Charlotte Day, his foster mother for the first eight months of his short life, said LeilandJames was a “very happy and content boy”.

He loved to hop in his car seat, listen to stories, be carried and cuddled.

He didn’t like traveling by car, however, and grumbled as dinner time approached, Day said.

LeilandJames began crying more and losing weight, which eventually led to a diagnosis of pyloric stenosis, a narrowing of the small intestine that prevents milk from entering the stomach.

But after an operation, he recovered and was above his growth curve.

Cumbria Police’s Laura Castle admits manslaughter but said she had no intention of killing LeilandJames

Good news came in May 2020. A family from Barrow, an industrial town on the Cumbrian coast, expressed interest in adopting him.

Scott and Laura Castle knew they wanted children soon after they met one Christmas Eve in 2005.

But it wasn’t an easy process and fertility issues caused Laura to suffer from depression and eventually quit her job at a nursing home.

The couple considered adopting a child and officially began the process in 2019.

They went through interviews, visits and training. His family and friends were also scrutinized by social workers.

Everything was on course for LeilandJames to get a permanent home.

Getty Images LeilandJames joined Barrow in August 2020

Day said he liked the couple when the Castles came to his house to meet LeilandJames in July.

The following month the boy moved in with his new family and hopes were high that he had finally found permanent housing.

But these hopes were shortlived.

“relationship difficulties”

LeilandJames cried a lot, especially at night, the Castles said, and the couple had a hard time connecting with him.

“I don’t think he liked us,” Laura recalled during her court hearing.

It was Laura who practically took care of LeilandJames by herself since Scott worked nights in a factory.

In the weeks following LeilandJames’ arrival, she exchanged several messages with her husband complaining about the child and saying that she had to stop hitting her because she feared one day she might not be able to stop .

In court, the Castles tried to downplay the language they used. That wasn’t really what happened, they said. They claimed they didn’t beat the boy they only slapped his hand or buttocks to “shock rather than hurt”.

Laura also said that the phrase “devil spawn” used in conversations with her husband was just a goodnatured way of describing LeilandJames and therefore didn’t contradict how she treated the son.

In their defence, the two said they raised LeilandJames the same way and admitted to beating him, although they agreed with Cumbria County Council’s zerotolerance approach to corporal punishment.

Laura said she tried the therapeutic approach requested by the board, but it didn’t always work.

Social workers were aware of the difficult relationship between the locks and LeilandJames.

Death

In November, they expressed concern when they learned Laura said she didn’t feel like she loved LeilandJames, and the following month they noted the couple didn’t seem “cheerful in everything they had to do.” .

However, at that moment there were no concerns about the child’s safety, as there were no suspicious marks or bruises on him.

Not everything was bad. The Castles said they also enjoyed a good day with their son, but “for every step forward, it felt like they took two steps back,” the couple told the court.

Then the end of the adoption began to be discussed. Scott said he didn’t know if he could return the child to the Guardianship Council, while for her part Laura said her family already loved the boy.

There was cake and presents for LeilandJames’ first birthday and four days later the family celebrated Christmas by posing for photos, all beaming in festive attire.

There were still occasional messages from Laura to her husband complaining about not being able to handle the child and criticizing his mood. He responded by supporting the woman, claiming he didn’t consider her an abusive mother and that it was the boy who was screwing things up.

At the end of a long day at work, Scott returned home just after 6:00 a.m. on January 6. He went straight to bed, put on a sleep mask and earplugs.

Two hours later, he woke up with Laura clinging to the boy’s body.

According to her, the boy had fallen off the couch and lost consciousness. Her breathing slowed and her arms and legs went limp.

She told the story to paramedics who rushed to her home and to doctors, first at Furness General Hospital and then at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, where LeilandJames was taken for emergency treatment.

But the medical staff didn’t believe her.

‘Baby Killer’

Scans showed extensive brain damage, swelling and bleeding, and the 13monthold man was pronounced dead around 3pm on January 7.

Laura Castle repeated her claim to police that she fell off the couch, but by that time her lies had already been exposed by pathologists examining LeilandJames’ body.

Her tiny body displayed the “triad” of signs of what was once called Shaken Baby Syndrome but is now known as abusive head trauma.

There was profuse and widespread bleeding in her brain and eyes, spinal damage, and whiplash.

Given his age and size, just shaking him aggressively probably wouldn’t have been the cause of the injuries. The coroners believed there was an impact, say with a piece of furniture to explain them all.

On the day her trial was due to begin, Laura admitted to manslaughter and said she wanted “justice” for her son.

She said she shook LeilandJames to stop crying, overcome with frustration from the noise, and he banged his head on the back of the sofa.

Prosecutors said what happened was far more sinister that neighbors heard a loud noise but no babies crying.

Prosecutors alleged that Laura Castle lost her temper when LeilandJames spat out his cereal, picked it up and banged his head on a piece of furniture.

Laura admitted to killing him but denied that she intended to cause any serious harm or death.

Her lawyers argued that she had lost her mind but never intended to take the child’s life.

They also explained that she would always be known as a baby killer, but shouldn’t be labeled as such, they said.

Google Laura Castle found guilty of murder by Preston Crown Court

The jury disagreed and found her guilty of murder and child torture against LeilandJames. However, he acquitted her of a second child abuse charge.

Her husband was found not guilty of causing or allowing her death and two felonies of child cruelty.

Scott broke down in tears as he told the court he was “heartbroken” and “devastated” to hear his wife confess to the murder, unaware she lied about what happened until she pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

“She’s the love of my life and I never thought she would lie to me,” he said, wiping tears from his face as his wife cried loudly in the dock not far away.

Social workers had some concerns about the feasibility of the adoption and a review was scheduled for early January, but LeilandJames was murdered before that could happen.

Cumbria County Council said an independent review of conservation practices is in the works and is expected to be published in the coming months.

Many questions remain unanswered, including whether anything could have been done to stop what happened.

Whatever the answer, according to Laura’s own lawyer, David McLachlan QC, LeilandJames deserves a chance at life.

And that was stolen from him by the woman who wanted to raise him.

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