Alfie Lamb: Son of former Tory minister crushed three-year-old with car seat in 'fit of childish temper', court told

Toddler's mother failed son 'fundamentally and fatally', jury told

The son of a former Conservative minister crushed his girlfriend’s three-year-old boy to death after pushing his car seat back in a “fit of childish temper”, jurors have been told.

Stephen Waterson moved his electric seat back into Alfie Lamb as the toddler sat in the footwell of his overcrowded Audi convertible, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson told London's Old Bailey.

The 25-year-old, son of Nigel Waterson, denies manslaughter along with his partner Adrian Hoare, 23, who is accused of failing to prevent her child’s death.

Summing up the prosecution’s case, Mr Atkinson said Ms Hoare had failed her son “fundamentally and fatally” during the car journey to Croydon, south London, on 1 February last year.

In his closing speech, the barrister said Alfie had been a “happy, active, smiley child”.

However, he warned jurors that they should guard against an emotional response to his death when they decide their verdicts.

He said: “No one is going to suggest either of these defendants wanted Alfie to die. In text messages between them they just wanted their ‘little fatty’ back, they just wanted him home. Each of them may have called him a ‘little shit’ but neither of them set out to hurt him in the way that they did.

“The question for you is whether Alfie died because without any thought for the consequences, Stephen Waterson moved his chair back, whether because he wanted more room or because Alfie was annoying him, putting Alfie at risk, lashing out at him with his car seat in a fit of childish temper.”

Mr Atkinson told jurors they must also decide where Ms Hoare had failed her son “by putting him in such a dangerous place” in the car.

There were six people travelling in Mr Waterson’s car, including two children in the rear footwell, as they travelled home following a shipping trip to Sutton, south London.

The prosecutor said: “Alfie did not have enough room to breathe and that became the case after he was in the footwell and he was compressed in that way either for ... long enough to cause those irreversible injuries.”

Ms Hoare has told the trial her son “irritable and tired” and made it known he was uncomfortable on the journey home.

She said: “Stephen got annoyed with him. He shouted at Alfie and told him to shut up.”

Alfie looked “pale” and was not moving when he was taken out of the car, the court has heard. He was taken to hospital and put on life support, which was switched off days later.

A pathologist found Alfie had died from crush asphyxia.

Mr Atkinson said Mr Waterson orchestrated and developed a series of lies, all designed to protect himself from blame for the toddler’s death.

“You may think there is clear evidence of him seeking to manipulate those who were in the car with him and others, including his adopted mother, getting them to lie or blaming them,” he said.

He added that neither of the defendants had explained the expert findings about Alfie’s injuries “because they cannot admit what Stephen Waterson did and Adrian Hoare failed to stop”.

Ms Hoare, originally from north Kent, denies manslaughter, child cruelty and common assault on Emilie Williams, who was also travelling in the car.

Mr Waterson has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and intimidation of the driver, Marcus Lamb.

The couple and Williams have pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice by making false statements to police.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by Press Association