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“Throughout the investigation they refused to admit what they had done and chose to put the rest of Alfie’s family, who loved him dearly, through the ordeal of a trial. He should have been protected and loved by his mother, but instead lost his life in appalling circumstances. Kent Police’s senior investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Kathleen Way, said: “Hedges and Benham inflicted unimaginable suffering on Alfie during a night of violence. “Rather than admitting what they had done, they both claimed they were not responsible for the injuries inflicted on Alfie, even though they were both present during the time the attacks took place and could not account for what had happened to him, acknowledging that just a few hours earlier, he appeared absolutely fine.” Photo credit should read: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire (Image: PA) Alfie suffered 70 injuries to his body in the the whisky and cocaine-fuelled overnight attack by Hedges and Benham in his caravan in Hernhill, Kent. Sam Phillips, the father of Alfie Phillips, speaking to the media outside Maidstone Crown Court, Kent, after Sian Hedges and her former partner Jack Benham and were jailed for life with a minimum term of 19 and 23 years respectively for the murder of her 18-month-old son Alfie in a caravan in 2020.

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“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. 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. '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.”Ĭommenting on the sentencing, Will Bodiam from CPS South East said: “This is an absolutely tragic case. I will never know the truth about what happened to my son.

Devon war memorial beach trial#

In a victim impact statement read in court, Alfie’s father Sam Phillips said: “After the trial we still feel we deserve answers.

You lied about what had happened in the caravan, and you maintained your lies through police interviews and at trial.”īoth Hedges and Benham’s sentences are minus 313 days already spent in custody. He added: “Your first thoughts were for yourselves. Jack Benham and Sian Hedges (Image: Kent Police)Īddressing the defendants, Mr Justice Cavanagh described the attack as “cruel and brutal” and criticised their efforts to try to cover up the assault.