Foster mother, 38, who murdered baby she was caring for told therapist about her anger management issues and how she drank six bottles of wine a week when she applied to adopt child
- ‘Critical information’ disclosed by Laura Castle was not shared with her GP
- Castle, 38, was jailed in May for murder of one-year-old Leiland-James Corkill
- One-year-old boy was a ‘looked-after child’ who was taken into care at birth
- He was approved to live with prospective adoptive parents from August 2020
A woman who murdered a baby she was hoping to adopt previously told a therapist she had anger management issues and drank six bottles of wine a week, a review found today.
The ‘critical information’ disclosed by Laura Castle was not shared with her GP and consequently was not available to the adoption panel that went on to approve her.
Castle, 38, was jailed in May for a minimum of 18 years for the murder of one-year-old Leiland-James Corkill, who had been placed with her and husband Scott, 35, in Cumbria less than five months before his death from catastrophic head injuries.
The youngster was a ‘looked-after child’ who was taken into care at birth before he was approved to live with his prospective adoptive parents in Barrow-in-Furness from August 2020.
Today, a child safeguarding practice review into the case revealed that Castle, who already had a birth child, was receiving ‘talking therapy’ with an NHS-commissioned service when she applied in January 2019 to be an adoptive parent.
Leiland-James Corkill was removed from his biological mother two days after his birth
Laura Corkill wears PPE as she meets her biological son Leiland-James in a contact centre
Laura Castle was jailed for at least 18 years in May for the murder of Leiland-James Corkill
Information held by the First Step programme showed she had issues with ‘low mood, anxiety and anger management’.
The review added: ‘This included her self-report that she was often irritable and short-tempered, including shouting too much at her young child.
‘I just wanted to pick him up, but they wouldn’t let me’: Mother of 13-month-old boy who was taken away from her by social services only to be murdered by woman trying to adopt him tells of harrowing moment she learned he had died
The biological mother of a boy murdered by a woman hoping to adopt him has revealed she was not allowed to hold him in hospital after his death aged 13 months.
Laura Corkill, of Whitehaven, Cumbria, gave birth to Leiland-James Corkill in hospital in December 2019 – but he was removed by social workers 48 hours later.
Cumbria County Council is thought to have told Miss Corkill three times before his birth that its plan was to remove him, because she could not meet his needs.
But Miss Corkill disputes this, claiming she was unfairly penalised because of the behaviour of a previous partner which she said resulted in her first two children being taken away. Leiland-James died in January 2021 during the third lockdown.
Speaking about when she learned of his death, Miss Corkill told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I got a phone call on January 6 saying that Leiland was in hospital.
‘(I said) what happened? They turned round and said apparently he’d had an accident and fell off the sofa and he was critical. I asked the person who phoned me ‘which hospital? I want to go down to where my baby is’.
‘And then they wouldn’t give me it until 24 hours later – and then they eventually told me it was Liverpool Alder Hey Hospital. By the time I got down there, he’d already been dead. I just froze to being with. I froze for about five, ten minutes.
‘I just froze, I just froze on the spot. I didn’t know what to do. And then eventually I went into his room and I just wanted to pick him up, but they wouldn’t allow me.’
‘She spoke about feeling judged by other parents and that she avoided company. She also reported drinking six bottles of wine a week which impacted on her motivation and mood, although she denied it had an impact on her parenting.’
Castle failed to mention those details in the adoption application process and no safeguarding concerns were raised by First Step, which was not aware the couple had applied to adopt, the review said.
It added the service informed her GP of its involvement with Castle between December 2018 and April 2019 but did not include any details on what was discussed with her.
The review discovered that concerns were raised in September 2020 by a gastroenterologist following a consultation with Castle that she reported drinking 27 units of alcohol per week and it was thought to be affecting her health.
This information was shared with her GP but neither the health issue nor the alcohol use was shared with any other agency. The Castles did not share the information either and also did not give a full picture about their financial situation.
They had significant loans and credit card debt but the design of their assessment form did not clearly ask for the total money owed, which ‘enabled the family to disguise what they owed and they were only paying the minimum amount each month’.
Report author Nicki Pettitt concluded ‘indicators emerged’ following Leiland-James’s placement that it ‘might not progress to be the right placement’, but there were no known signs he was at risk of physical harm.
She added: ‘What was not known at the time was that the prospective adopters had not been honest about their debt, their mental and physical health, their alcohol consumption and use of physical chastisement during the assessment, at the time of Leiland-James being matched with them or during his time living with the family.
‘Learning has been identified that information in these areas should be robustly sought, shared, and considered.
‘This is significant, as had the information held by First Step and the gastroenterologist been known, along with the understanding that the prospective adopters were hiding these issues, the assessment could have better reflected the vulnerabilities and potential risks.’
A number of national recommendations have been made, including the need for all health information for adopters and children in the family to be updated and reconsidered at key points in the case.
Revised adoption guidance should include seeking assurance that medical assessments do not rely on the self-report of the prospective adopters.
Laura Castle during a police interview while being questioned over the death of Leiland-James
Another Cumbria Police interview of Laura Castle following the death of Leiland-James
Following publication of the report, John Readman, Cumbria County Council’s executive director for people, said: ‘The Castles went through a full eight-month assessment and approval process involving criminal record checks, multiple references and extensive training.
The agony of Leiland-James’s biological mother: Laura Corkill’s letter to judge at Laura Castle’s sentencing
‘Leiland-James Corkill Is my darling son, my beautiful blue eyed baby boy! He was my reason to live once again. Leiland-James as is with all my children are my light in the darkness of the pain of my life. My baby boy, Leiland-James was to be coming home! A home filled with love. I made sure that he would have all that he needed, his nursery was decorated, clothes folded in his drawers and his pram stood in the hall with love and within a safe home. I had done everything that I Could, all I was asked, meeting all expectations, passing assessments.
‘Forces worked against us and Leiland-James was taken and placed firstly with his loving foster mother Charlotte, I continued to have frequent contact then when Leiland-James was 7 months old, he was placed in the home of a monster, a monster that was meant to love, nurture and cherish him as I would have done. A monster that robbed Leiland-James at only 12 months old of his life, robbed me, his brother, sisters and my family of one day opening the door to the wonderful young man that I know he would have become. People say I am brave, I am not! I just exist to get justice for my son Leiland-James and for all my children. Leiland-James was ripped from my loving arms, but I was always his mammy. I carried him with in my body for 9 months with every beat of my heart full of love, full of pride, full of promise. My beautiful blue eyed baby, love saw his first breath, evil took his last breath here on earth, Mammy was not ready to say goodbye, I will never be ready to say goodbye.
‘I carry Leiland-James forever in my heart, I hear his cheeky laughter in the wind that blows, see his beautiful smile in my memories engrained within my sole, his photos on every wall. I have foot prints and handprints and a memory box but all I want is to hold him, Leiland-James liked kisses and snuggles and always fell asleep in my arms. My son, Leiland-James Corkill was a happy wee boy, he always had a bright beaming smile, a smile that would brighten days, even on my worst days he is my sunshine. My Son, Leiland-James visits in my dreams, he will always be by my side, safe forever now within my heart. No sentence will ever be enough, for the pain, trauma and brutality that was inflicted on his tiny baby body and mind. I understand that you as a judge will make judgment, I understand that you are governed by what sentence you can put forward, nothing will ever bring back my baby, nothing will ever reduce or take away that pain. The monster that scared and broke my baby boy’s body and mind will never have forgiveness this is something that she will carry for the rest of her days. The Monster has said that she wants ‘her boy to have justice’, he was not and never will be your baby boy you lost that right the first second it went through your head to hurt him. He was a precious baby, vulnerable and innocent, he had no voice, he could not defend himself.
‘Please give my precious son the justice that he so deserves. Please give the maximum you can give, to hopeful be a deterrent for others that think that they would hurt a precious child. I would say I would like the key to be thrown away and for the monster that hurt my child be left to rot in the hell that she inflicted on my child, but this is for a higher power that she will have to suffer for what she has done for eternity.’
‘No concerns were raised by anyone, in any agency, about their suitability to become adopters.
‘What we know now, from the trial and this review, is that Laura Castle deliberately and repeatedly misled and lied to social workers about vitally important aspects of her life, including her mental and physical health, her alcohol use and debts.
‘We also know that relevant information about Laura Castle was not shared between agencies and that more could have been done to clarify some of the information we were provided with.’
Professor Sarah O’Brien, chief nursing officer for NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, said: ‘Information sharing was not good enough throughout the critical stages of the adoptive process. Steps have already been taken locally to address this and a recommendation to change national guidance has also been made.’
Asked if she accepts a safeguarding referral should have been made by the First Step service, she said: ‘Looking at it now with everything we know, yes I think there was probably enough there or to have at least gone and maybe had a discussion with other professionals who knew the family.’
Lesley Walker, independent scrutineer with Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership, said Castle’s self-report to First Step was ‘critical information’.
She said: ‘Obviously with reviews the Government guidance is clear, we need to try and avoid hindsight… but clearly it was a really significant piece of information that if shared would certainly have had implications for the assessment of those carers.’
Laura Castle rang for an ambulance on the morning of January 6 last year and reported that Leiland-James had fallen off the sofa, injured his head and was struggling to breathe.
The little boy died the following day as hospital medics raised concerns over the defendant’s account.
Castle maintained the death was a tragic accident until the day the jury was sworn in in April for her trial at Preston Crown Court.
She entered a plea of guilty to manslaughter and went on to say that she had shaken Leiland-James because he would not stop crying, and his head hit the armrest of the sofa before he fell off her knee on to the floor.
However, medical experts told the court that the degree of force required to cause his injuries would have been ‘severe’ and likely to be a combination of shaking and an impact with a solid surface.
Prosecutor Michael Brady QC said it was the Crown’s case that Castle killed the boy as she lost her temper and suggested she smashed the back of his head against a piece of furniture.
Jurors convicted her of murder and a separate offence of child cruelty on May 17.
Scott Castle was acquitted of allowing Leiland-James’s death and child cruelty.
When detectives examined the defendants’ mobile phones following their arrest they found text messages which were derogatory towards Leiland-James.
Laura Castle wrote that the youngster was a ‘proper nob head’, ‘s**t bag’ and ‘top t**t’, while her husband said he was a ‘d**k baby’ and a ‘toss bag’.
The Castles had been selected by an adoption panel following an application process overseen by Cumbria Children’s Services Department, the court heard.
In November 2020 concerns were raised that Laura Castle had said during a home visit that she did not love Leiland-James and was struggling to bond with him.
The possibility of removing the youngster from their care was later canvassed, but Laura Castle said her extended family loved him so he was ‘not going anywhere’.
Sentencing her to life imprisonment in May, Mr Justice Baker said it was ‘nothing less than a tragedy’ that she did not return Leiland-James to the local authority when those discussions took place.
Leiland-James Corkill had been placed with Laura Castle, 38, and her husband Scott, 35
Miss Corkill branded Castle a ‘monster’ in a letter to the judge, while his previous foster mother Charlotte Day said she was ‘heartbroken’ at learning of the abuse Leiland-James suffered.
Detective Superintendent Dave Pattinson, of Cumbria Police, said at the time of sentencing: ‘Leiland-James Corkill died because of continuous, horrific abuse committed by the very person who should have cared for him.
‘From the very start of this, Laura Castle has lied about her actions – she denied shaking Leiland-James to both police and medical professionals who were attempting to save his life.
‘It is clear that even now, Laura Castle has never been truthful about her actions that morning of January 6 – the actions which ultimately led to Leiland-James’s death.
‘The horrific text messages she sent show her true nature. She spoke of a little boy in the most despicable of terms, the same child she hoped to adopt on a permanent basis.’
Two other children failed by the system during Covid: How social services missed opportunities to save horrifically abused youngsters
Star Hobson, murdered September 22, 2020
Star Hobson was only 16 months old when she was killed at her home in Keighley, West Yorkshire.
Star was murdered by her mother Frankie Smith’s girlfriend Savannah Brockhill after suffering months of abuse in her home during the first lockdown in 2020. Frankie Smith, 20, was handed an eight-year sentence for allowing her daughter’s death. This was extended to 12 years in March 2022 for being too lenient.
Brockhill, 28, was convicted of murder and jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years. No appeal was made against her sentence. It was revealed that social services had missed five opportunities to stop her killers in the months before her death on September 22, 2020.
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, murdered June 16, 2020
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, aged six, was murdered by his cruel stepmother Emma Tustin in June 202. She was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 29 years and the boy’s father Thomas Hughes was jailed for 21 years for manslaughter.
The boy had been seen by social workers just two months before his death, but they concluded there were no safeguarding concerns. In October 2019, Aileen Carabine, a special educational coordinator at Arthur’s school, said Arthur ‘deteriorated’ that month.
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