An English woman who exchanged grotesque messages with her husband has been jailed for life for murdering a 13-month-old child she was hoping to adopt.
Laura Castle, 38, was told by a judge on Wednesday she would have to spend a minimum of 18 years behind bars for the murder of Leiland-James Corkill, who had been placed with the couple five months before his death in January 2021.
Leiland-James suffered catastrophic head injuries which Castle tried to claim he must have suffered when he fell from a sofa onto a laminate floor.
He was a “looked-after child” who was taken into care at birth and Cumbria County Council’s social services department then agreed to let him be looked after by the Castles at their house in Barrow-in-Furness in August 2020 with a view to them adopting him….