Man who murdered his partner's baby sent to jail

A 33- year-old man found guilty of murdering his new partner's baby son must spend at least 21 years in jail, a judge has ruled.

Jurors had convicted unemployed Kieran Humphreys of the murder of six-month-old Archie Woodbridge, in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, on 9 February 2024.

Prosecutors had told the jury at Luton Crown Court that Humphreys had "gripped and shaken" Archie after playing a video game through the night.

Humphreys, who was also found guilty of child cruelty, was on bail when he killed Archie, after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting another child.

"This was an extreme loss of temper, leading to severe violence perpetrated on a defenceless baby boy," said the judge.

"This is been a very difficult, emotional case for everybody... even for me."

Jurors had heard how Archie's mother, Saskia Woodbridge, who was 19 and lived in nearby Leighton Buzzard, began a relationship with Humphreys after meeting him in a shop about a week before her son was killed.

Woodbridge had left Archie alone with Humphreys while she went to a nail salon.

Humphreys, of Bromley Gardens, Houghton Regis, had denied unlawfully killing Archie and pleaded not guilty to murder, manslaughter and child cruelty.

On Wednesday, Mr Justice Morris imposed a mandatory life sentence and said Humphreys must serve 21 years in prison before parole could be considered.

Charlotte Newell KC, prosecuting, had told jurors that Humphreys appeared to have killed Archie, who was teething, after losing his temper.

Evidence showed the baby had been "gripped and shaken" and suffered a fatal brain injury while in Humphreys' sole care, she said.

Humphreys had been "awake throughout the night" playing Call of Duty on an Xbox, Newell said.

She added that Humphreys' priority after Archie died had been to "save his own skin".

He had lied about the circumstances in which Archie became unwell and had admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Newell told the judge that Humphreys' bail condition when he killed Archie was that he could not have unsupervised contact with any child.

Further details on that previous incident were not given at the hearing, but the BBC understands that Humphreys was on bail while an investigation into an allegation that a different child had been assaulted was under way.

He had not been charged with any offence in relation to the earlier allegation.

Newell told jurors that Humphreys had been alone with Archie at the home of friends in Dolphin Drive in Houghton Regis when he shook the baby.

Humphreys, his friend Karen Smith and Woodbridge then took him to the home of a relative, who lived in Bromley Gardens.

A 999 call directed paramedics to that house.

Newell said the house had a CCTV camera which had captured the minutes before Archie was taken to hospital.

The footage showed Woodbridge calling 999 and Humphreys, his mother Sharon Humphreys and Smith trying to help Archie.

Smith, 40, of Dolphin Drive, Houghton Regis; her partner Sam Wyatt, 34, of Dolphin Drive; and Sharon Humphreys, 59, of Bromley Gardens, were also jailed on Wednesday after admitting conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

The judge handed Smith a 12-month sentence, Wyatt was given 15 months and Sharon Humphreys was handed a nine-month sentence.

Medical evidence suggested that doctors might have been able to help Archie if someone had called 999 immediately.

"I think if these individuals had had any sense about them, any thought for Archie rather than themselves, they would have made that phone call," said Det Ch Insp Nick Gardner, of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit, after Wednesday's hearing.

"The outcome could possibly have been different."

After the hearing, Archie's aunt, Charley Woodbridge, 17, said: "Archie was a bundle of joy, a little lad with character who put so much happiness into our lives.

"What has happened to Archie is something I could never wish on any other family.

"The pain that has come from this is unimaginable."

She said Archie always had a smile on his face and "food in his hand".

"He will always be remembered as the bubbly, happy little man he was."

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