Kent couple who murdered toddler Alfie Phillips to be sentenced on camera at Maidstone Crown Court
Alfie #Alfie
A man and woman who murdered a toddler in a “wicked and torturous attack” will learn their fate on camera in a first for a Kent court.
Cameras will be at Maidstone Crown Court for the sentencing of Sian Hedges and her former boyfriend Jack Benham, who were last month convicted of brutally killing her 18-month-old son, Alfie Phillips, in Hernhill, near Faversham.
Sian Hedges and Jack Benham were found guilty of the murder of 18-month-old Alfie Phillips. Picture: Kent Police
KentOnline will carry a feed of the proceedings on January 18, with Sky News, ITV and BBC also set to broadcast the hearing.
It will be the first time cameras have been in a Kent court since a law was passed permitting such filming in 2020, with the first sentencing broadcast last summer from the Old Bailey.
Only the judge will be filmed to protect the privacy of witnesses and jurors.
Hedges, 27, and Benham, 35, were due to be sentenced yesterday but the hearing was postponed until the new year after the judge, Justice Cavanagh, came down with Covid.
Both will receive mandatory life sentences, with the judge determining the minimum term they will serve behind bars.
Alfie Phillips was murdered by his mum Sian Hedges and her boyfriend Jack Benham
Inside the caravan where Alfie Phillips was murdered by his mum, Sian Hedges, and her boyfriend, Jack Benham. Pic: CPS
Throughout a harrowing 35-day trial, the pair pointed the finger at each other, with both denying any involvement in hurting Alfie in Benham’s caravan in November 2021.
But a jury saw through their lies and returned two guilty verdicts.
They had been told how Alfie had 70 visible injuries and multiple broken bones at the time of his death.
Traces of cocaine were also found in his body, indicating he had been recently exposed to the Class A drug, which his mum and Benham admitted taking in the hours before he died.
The youngster had been taken back to the caravan at 7pm on Friday, November 27, and was not seen again by anyone other than Benham and Hedges until about 11.30am the following morning.
It was during these hours Alfie was brutally murdered by the pair.
The court was told that shortly before 11.30am on the Saturday Benham came to the main house with Alfie in his arms. The toddler was described as “blue and floppy” and was not breathing.
Benham’s mother, Joan Benham, started performing CPR in the living room and his father, Mark Benham, called 999.
Sian Hedges murdered her 18-month-old son Alfie Phillips
Cameras will be at Maidstone Crown Court for the sentencing hearing
Ambulance crews arrived within 10 minutes but it was immediately apparent to them Alfie had been “dead for some time”, said the prosecutor.
Benham came into the living room and told paramedics when they woke Alfie was trapped under his legs and they could not wake him.
In reality, the little boy had been subjected to a sustained attack that caused his death.
He was taken to the QEQM Hospital in Margate, and pronounced dead at 12.35pm.
The trial was told how Benham was heard at the hospital to have said “what have I done?” when told Alfie had died.
A skeletal survey and post-mortem examinations revealed the toddler had multiple fractures to both of his arms, his ribs and one leg, as well as widespread bruising, marks and scrapes across his body.
Tests indicated many of the breaks to his bones would have occurred in the hours before Alfie’s death.