Finley Boden: Parents jailed for killing baby returned to their care

A couple who murdered their 10-month-old son 39 days after he was placed back into their care have been jailed for life.

Stephen Boden and partner Shannon Marsden killed Finley Boden, who died on Christmas Day in 2020.

Finley was found to have suffered 130 "appalling" injuries.

Boden and Marsden, from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, were ordered to serve a minimum of 29 and 27 years respectively at Derby Crown Court on Friday.

Sentencing, Judge Amanda Tipples said the pair had subjected their son to "unimaginable cruelty".

There was a single audible gasp from the public gallery, with the defendants hunched in their seats staring forward as the sentences were passed.

The court heard the murder was "savage and prolonged" with a "sadistic motivation".

DERBYSHIRE POLICE

Stephen Boden and Shannon Marsden were sentenced at Derby Crown Court

Paramedics were called to the couple's "cluttered" and filthy terraced home in Holland Road, Old Whittington, after Finley suffered a cardiac arrest.

He was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead.

Finley's injuries included 57 breaks to his bones, 71 bruises and two burns on his left hand - one "from a hot, flat surface", the other probably "from a cigarette lighter flame".

The court heard the fractures to Finley's bones led to him developing infections, including pneumonia and sepsis that ultimately killed him.

Toxicology tests showed cannabis was found in Finley's blood, indicating that he must have inhaled smoke in the 24 hours before his death.Add text here!

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