Boy killed by couple 'caring' for him

1/2
12 April 2012

A couple were today found guilty of murdering a three-year-old boy who died in hospital on Christmas Eve after being abused, neglected and beaten.

Ryan Lovell-Hancox suffered more than 70 injuries at the hands of Christopher Taylor and Kayley Boleyn, who were employed by the boy's mother to look after him.

The pair now both face mandatory life sentences after a jury took seven hours to convict them of killing him during an attack at their flat in December 2008.

The four-week trial heard that Ryan's mother Amy Hancox was paying about £40 a week for Taylor, 25, and Boleyn, 19, to look after him while she decorated her home. The arrangement took place in the month before his death.

The pair, who were also convicted of child cruelty, will be sentenced later this year. Taylor showed little emotion when the unanimous verdicts were returned, although Boleyn appeared on the verge of tears.

They had been looking after Ryan for more than three weeks when he was the victim of a serious assault at their bedsit in Bilston, West Midlands, on 22 December.

The trial at Wolverhampton crown court was told that the boy, who died in hospital two days later, was seen at the flat by a housing support officer only hours before the attack that led
to his death.

The court heard that the officer, who gave Boleyn a lift to a jobcentre, had assumed Ryan was asleep after seeing one of his legs sticking out from under some bedding. It also emerged that a child had been seen by housing officials at the flat on previous occasions.

At the start of the trial, prosecutor Christopher Hotten, QC, said mother Ms Hancox 21, agreed that Boleyn should look after Ryan as she was struggling to cope with him on her own.

The boy's father, who split up with Ms Hancox more than a year before the death, paid a moving tribute to his son.

John Lovell, 24, called Ryan a "loving, caring and protective" child with the same interests as any other toddler.

He said: "Nothing is going to bring my son back, let me see his smile, hear his laugh or feel the warmth of his love.

"I cannot put in words how I feel about the two people who took my child's life. He was a three-year-old boy who could not defend himself."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in