A mother jailed after her one-year-old son was mercilessly beaten to death by her new boyfriend has had her “too soft” jail term increased by top judges.
Chloe Thomas’s son Finley died after suffering weeks of violence at the hands of Sean Buckley, who was found guilty of his murder and jailed for life.
Thomas, 25, of Pinewood Drive, Tonypandy, was locked up for 20 months at Cardiff Crown Court in July after admitting child cruelty.
But her sentence was upped to 30 months by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, who ruled her original punishment “unduly lenient” at a hearing on Wednesday.
Appearing at London’s Criminal Appeal Court over a video link from prison, she wept as the judge said her failure to seek help for her son deserved a tougher jail term.
Lord Thomas, sitting with Mr Justice Holroyde and Mrs Justice Patterson, said: “We have taken anxious consideration over what undoubtedly influenced the trial judge, which was the domineering influence of Buckley.
“But, bearing in mind the gravity of the matters of which Chloe Thomas was aware, her part in not bringing it to the attention of the authorities and her conduct – even in the last days of Finley’s life – in not explaining what had happened and helping to conceal it, we consider that very serious course of conduct was not reflected in the sentence of 20 months.”
Extensive brain bleed
The judge also increased Buckley’s minimum jail term, handed to him in June at Cardiff Crown Court, from 17 to 20 years.
He told the court Buckley, 29, who had lived with Thomas for just a few months, subjected Finley to a string of violent attacks in the three or four weeks leading up to his death.
On September 23, 2014, Thomas called 999 to say the toddler – then aged just 17 months – had hit his head after falling downstairs, describing him as “all sloppy” and not moving.
She told paramedics he had fallen “from the top to the bottom” of the stairs in a bid to cover up how he had actually come to harm.
He was taken to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital and, when doctors realised how serious his injuries were, he was transferred to the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff.
Finley was found to have extensive bleeding on his brain and died the following day.
'Unduly lenient
A post-mortem examination revealed a number of injuries, some several weeks old, including a fractured skull and broken ribs.
There were also traces of cannabis and cocaine found in his hair as he had been exposed to Buckley and Thomas’s drug-taking.
Both Buckley and Thomas’ sentences were referred to the court by the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC.
Increasing Buckley’s minimum term, the Lord Chief Justice added: “It is clear that the victim was a highly vulnerable victim and that Buckley had completely neglected his duty to the child in his care.
“He had subjected the child to a prolonged period of violence and he had aggravated all of that by the use of drugs.
“It seems to us that this was a case where the judge didn’t pay sufficient regard to the period over which the violence had occurred.
“In our judgment a minimum term of 17 years was unduly lenient.”
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/soft-jail-term-mother-whose-12049506
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