Kieran Humphreys has been jailed (Image: PA)
A man has been jailed for life for the murder of a six-month-old baby after “violently shaking him and lying to cover up what happened”. Bedfordshire Police said Kieran Humphreys, 33, of Bromley Gardens in Houghton Regis, was caring for Archie Woodbridge on February 9, 2024, when he shook the baby leaving him critically injured. He was jailed at Luton Crown Court with a minimum sentence of 21 years on Wednesday.
Humphreys, who was looking after the infant at the home of friends Sam Wyatt, 33, and Karen Smith, 39, in Dolphin Drive, Houghton Regis, failed to call emergency services after the incident and instead phoned his mother Sharon Humphreys, 58. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said he also “spent time online browsing Facebook, buying clothes and looking at holidays” and paramedics were called only 90 minutes after Archie was injured.
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Emergency services alerted Bedfordshire Police just before 5.30pm and the baby was taken to hospital but died later in the evening.
The court heard Humphreys had met and befriended the child’s mother, Saskia Woodbridge, just a week earlier and, in his sentencing remarks, judge Mr Justice Morris said he “lavished attention on them, leading her to believe that he would care for her child”.
Mr Justice Morris also said that at the time of the offence Humphreys had been on bail for an unrelated allegation including a condition “not to have unsupervised contact with a child under 16”.
The CPS said Humphreys lied to paramedics when they attended, claiming Archie had been with his mother when he became unwell, and insisted he had not been there.
He repeated this account to the police and the lies were supported by his mother and Ms Smith and Mr Wyatt who also gave false statements, police said.
Shan Saunders, from the CPS, said: “This is a heartbreaking case. Despite convincing Archie’s mother that he cared for her little boy, Kieran Humphreys violently cut his life short.
“The jury found him guilty of murder after we presented expert evidence showing that Archie’s injuries were not an accident; they were most likely caused by Humphreys gripping him tightly and violently shaking him.
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“Humphreys will now spend a long time in prison but nothing can ever make up for the loss of Archie and our thoughts remain with his mother and family.”
Humphreys was also convicted of child cruelty for the delay in requesting medical help for Archie, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, the CPS said.
His mother, Wyatt and Smith all admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Sharon Humphreys was sentenced to nine months in prison while Wyatt was jailed for 15 months and Smith was jailed for a year.
Detective Chief Inspector Nick Gardner, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said: “Our thoughts remain with Archie’s family at this time.
“This was a truly shocking and senseless act of violence against a defenceless baby.
“Humphreys’ actions, and the subsequent lies told by those involved, were utterly callous and compounded the family’s grief.
“Cases like this remind us all of the importance of protecting the most vulnerable in our society.”