Woman convicted of murdering baby she wanted to adopt

Leiland-James Corkill was placed with Laura Castle in Cumbria months before his death from head injuries

A former care worker who used physical force and lost her temper with a baby boy she was in the process of adopting has been found guilty of murder.

Laura Castle violently shook the baby to death because he wouldn’t stop crying after his breakfast, a court heard.

Leiland-James Corkill had been taken into care at birth and was placed with Castle, 38, and her husband, Scott Castle, 35, by authorities in Cumbria in August 2020. Five months later the baby, not long after his first birthday, was dead as a result of catastrophic head injuries.

Laura Castle initially told family, friends and police that Leiland-James died because of a tragic accident that happened while her husband, a night-shift worker, was asleep.

She stuck to this story until a jury was sworn in for her trial at Preston crown court, when she tearfully pleaded guilty to manslaughter. She denied murder.

Castle’s new version of events was that she had shaken Leiland-James because he wouldn’t stop crying and screaming after breakfast. His head hit an armrest of the sofa before he fell off her knee to the floor, she said.

Medical experts told the court that the degree of force required to cause Leiland-James’s injuries would have been severe and likely to be a combination of shaking and an impact with a solid surface.

Michael Brady QC, prosecuting, argued it was likely that Castle “smashed the back of Leiland-James’s head with significant force against the armrest of the sofa or possibly a table”.

The jury took two and half hours to convict Castle of murder and child cruelty on Tuesday. She will be sentenced next Wednesday. Her husband, a former machinist at BAE Systems in Barrow, was found not guilty of child cruelty and allowing Leiland-James’s death.

The court heard details of mobile phone messages between the couple, discovered after their arrests. Laura Castle wrote that the youngster was a “proper nob head”, a “shit bag” and a “top twat”, while her husband said he was a “dick baby”, a “fat shit” and a “toss bag”.Advertisement

She said the texts reflected her “sense of humour”. Scott Castle said he was “ashamed” at sending the messages but he did not mean malice and was trying to sympathise with his wife.

A message from Laura to Scott a month after the adoption read: “He’s an absolute moaning winge bag and I totally regret doin this. I‘m goin to lose my mind.”

She added: “I need to stop smacking him cos if I start I’ll not stop at one point and it’s not getting us anywhere and then I feel bad.”

In several messages she said she had “leathered” Leiland-James, although she told the jury that meant smacking.

Penny Hindle, a social worker of 35 years’ experience, gave evidence of her shock when, after the baby’s death, Laura Castle said she had tapped or slapped Leiland-James.

“I was really shocked that, given the emphasis on not hurting, assaulting, smacking, disciplining children in a physical way, that she was saying that was what she had been doing. Leiland-James was only a baby. He had just had his first birthday.”

The Castles, from Barrow-in-Furness, had been selected by an adoption panel after an application process overseen by Cumbria children’s services department, the court heard.

In November 2020 concerns were raised that Laura Castle had said during a home visit she did not love Leiland-James and was struggling to bond with him. That led to a discussion about removing Leiland-James from the couple’s care. Laura Castle responded by saying her extended family loved the boy and “he was not going anywhere”.

After the verdict, Cumbria county council apologised for the death and said an independent review would take place, reporting in July.

John Readman, the council’s executive director for people, said: “We are deeply sorry for Leiland’s death, it should not have happened. Our thoughts and sympathies are with his birth family and all those who knew this little boy. Abuse of a child by adopters is almost unheard of and we are determined to do everything we can to prevent this happening again, here or anywhere else.”

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