Leiland-James Corkill: Foster mother accused of murder ‘admits using force’ on baby she hoped to adopt

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A woman accused of murdering a baby boy she had hoped to adopt admitted she had used physical force on him.

Laura Castle, 38, made the confession as one-year-old Leiland-James Corkill was on a life-support machine in hospital with catastrophic head injuries, Preston Crown Court heard.

The youngster had been living with his prospective adoptive parents Castle and her husband, Scott, 35, when emergency services were called to their home in Barrow-in-Furness on 6 January last year.

Laura Castle said Leiland-James had fallen from a sofa while she was in the kitchen but medics at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital raised concerns the injuries did not match her account.

Social worker, Penny Hindle said she phoned Castle before the baby’s life support was switched off on 7 January and was “shocked” when Castle confession she had hit him.

“I said to Laura that I had been advised that Leiland-James's injuries were not consistent with her account,” Ms Hindle told the court. “She was very upset. She said she had previously 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. I was really shocked that she had used force.”

The court heard last week a colleague of Ms Hindle voiced her concerns that Laura Castle stated during a home visit in November 2020 she did not love Leiland-James.

Laura Castle went on to tell Ms Hindle that she felt the youngster did not like them. A “looked after child” review followed in which Ms Hindle said she could not support a permanent adoption application from the Castles.

The social worker said the Castles accepted the decision and more therapeutic work took place at their home on 16 December.

She said: “It was not totally negative. Scott Castle and Laura Castle both engaged well. Leiland-James was there. But they did have a lack of joy in everything that he seemed to do.

“Some of their responses were negative and they were struggling to bond with him but they weren't asking to remove him because they couldn't go on.”

A further meeting was scheduled to take place “very early in the New Year” to discuss Leiland-James's placement, Ms Hindle said, but on 6 January she was made aware of the incident at the Castles' home.

The mobile phones of the defendants were examined by police following their arrest as text messages revealed Laura Castle telling her husband of “leathering” Leiland-James on a number of occasions. The couple also referred to the boy in derogatory terms such as “a proper n*b head”, “a d**k”, “a fat s**t” and a “t*** bag”, the court heard.

Giving evidence, Laura Castle's mother, Julie Houghton, said she had no concerns about whether her daughter was coping with having Leiland-James in the family.

She said: “We welcomed him into our family. He was part of our family.”

Michael Brady QC, prosecuting, asked: “Did she tell you that she loved Leiland-James?”

Mrs Houghton responded: “She said she had not bonded with him as much as she thought she would have.”

Both foster parents were fine though when they visited her home on 5 January she said, and Leiland-James appeared "more settled".

The trial continues.