Mum who protected boyfriend after he murdered her son is jailed

A boy, three, died because his mum did not get help when her boyfriend fatally injured him.

Kayleigh Siswick, 27, did not raise the alarm after her partner Kyle Campbell, also 27, hurt her son Riley Siswick because she wanted to protect him.

Campbell was found guilty of murder at Leeds Crown Court and jailed for life, with a minimum sentence of 20 years.

Siswick was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child and received a seven-year sentence.

The jury was told Campbell injured the child ‘either from a fist or by jumping or stamping on him or by striking him with an object’ at their home in Huddersfield on February 4, 2016.

Siswick eventually called paramedics to the house on Smiths Avenue but her son was already dead.

Riley’s injuries were so severe his bowel was severed, spilling his stomach contents internally, which caused peritonitis – a life-threatening infection, the court heard.

Robert Smith QC, prosecuting, said this would have caused severe pain that ‘would have been obvious to the person who caused the injury or any adult who saw him after the injury was sustained’.

He added his condition would have led to septic shock.

He told him: ‘You were too much of a coward to face up to the consequences of your actions and pretended that nothing had happened.’

Mr Turner added: ‘He (Riley) was left to die in a bed soaked in his own urine’.

The judge said he was satisfied that Siswick ‘prioritised’ her relationship with Campbell over her children.

He reduced her sentence to reflect that, with ‘limited cognitive abilities’ and a mental age of 11, she had a ‘lack of insight’ into her actions.