Child murdered for crying

Brute smashed lad against wall

A THUG who murdered his girlfriend’s 18-month-old son because he was crying has been jailed for life.

Scott Hepburn, 33, twice smashed tiny Ashley Johnson’s head against a wall and twice dropped him on the floor while babysitting.
He then put the unconscious lad back in his cot and went to watch TV. When his partner Samantha Knox came home from a night out, he told her Ashley was asleep.

Babysitter killer ... Scott Hepburn

Samantha, 31, went to check on her son and Hepburn claimed he had no idea how he came by terrible injuries including a fractured skull and leg. Ashley died in hospital of a “catastrophic” brain injury.
Hepburn, of Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, denied knowledge of how the injuries happened after he was arrested. He later admitted he “flipped” when he could not stop the child crying.
He told cops: “I just didn’t know what to do. I was tired. I just like dropped him, sort of threw him on the floor, and he was still crying so I did it again.
“I picked him up again as he was still crying and I smashed his head against the wall twice. He stopped crying.”
Hepburn, who has a history of violence, pleaded guilty at Stafford Crown Court. He must serve at least 15 years.
Judge Simon Tonking told him: “You were alone with Ashley for about an hour and during that time you brutally killed him in a sustained and forceful assault.”
Samantha, of Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, said in a statement: “There will never be any words to describe the pain I go through each day.”

And then another one happened yesterday....see story below

Life in jail for killing a boy of 2

Killer ... Daniel Rigby

 

A MAN was jailed for life yesterday for beating a two-year-old boy to death.

Brute Daniel Rigby, 23, was found guilty of murdering defenceless Rio Smedley after a nine-day trial.

Rio, whose mother Kirsty Smedley was Rigby’s girlfriend, had 91 injuries and died of a ruptured liver.

Manchester Crown Court heard Rigby attacked Rio in a temper, then claimed the boy had fallen down stairs at his home in Bolton.

Smedley, 24, who had ignored advice from social services about Rigby, of Wigan, was convicted of allowing the death of a child and will be sentenced later.