Teen mother's new partner guilty of murdering baby

Kieran Humphreys is waiting to be sentenced after being found guilty of murdering baby Archie Woodbridge

A 33-year-old man has been found guilty of murdering his new teenage partner's baby son after playing a video game "throughout" the night.

Jurors convicted unemployed Kieran Humphreys of the murder of six-month-old Archie Woodbridge, in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, on 9 February 2024.

Prosecutors said Archie had been "gripped and shaken" by Humphreys and the judge described the case as "difficult and tragic".

Judge Mr Justice Morris said he would sentence Humphreys, who was also found guilty of child cruelty, on a date to be fixed.

A jury at Luton Crown Court heard how Archie's mother, Saskia Woodbridge, who was 19 and lived in nearby Leighton Buzzard, had begun a relationship with Humphreys after meeting him in a shop about a week before her son was killed.

Jurors heard Ms Woodbridge, now 20, had left Archie alone with the killer while she went to a nail salon.

Humphreys, of Bromley Gardens in Houghton Regis, had denied unlawfully killing Archie and pleaded not guilty to murder, manslaughter and child cruelty.

Mr Justice Morris remanded him in custody and said he would impose a mandatory life sentence and would decide how many years Humphreys must serve in prison before parole could be considered.

Luton Crown Court heard Kieran Humphreys had spent the night playing on an Xbox

Barrister Charlotte Newell KC, prosecuting, said Humphreys appeared to have killed Archie, who was teething, after losing his temper.

Evidence showed Archie had been "gripped and shaken" and suffered a fatal brain injury while in Humphreys' "sole care", she told jurors.

Humphreys had been "awake throughout the night" playing Call of Duty on Xbox, she said.

Ms Newell said the murderer's priority after Archie died had been to "save his own skin".

She said Humphreys had lied about the circumstances in which Archie became unwell - and had admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Det Ch Insp Nick Gardner said Kieran Humphreys' behaviour was "self-serving"

Det Ch Insp Nick Gardner, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit, said he hoped the guilty verdicts bought Archie's family "some measure of justice and peace".

"This was a deeply distressing case in which a defenceless baby lost his life at the hands of someone who should have been caring for him," he said.

"Kieran Humphreys' actions reveal a distinctly self-serving approach, as his primary concern was to save himself, rather than prioritising Archie's welfare, by attempting to cover his tracks."

Humphreys opted not to give evidence at his trial, but jurors heard he had told police he was "innocent" and "I ain't being done for it".

Ms Newell said he said he had "tried to save" the boy and told detectives Archie "gasped" while sleeping and struggled to breathe, the trial previously heard.

"I ain't done nothing wrong," Mr Humphreys, who was 31 when Archie died, had told police.

Prosecutors said Archie was injured at a house in Dolphin Drive, Houghton Regis and then he was moved

Miss Newell told jurors Humphreys had been alone with Archie at the home of friends in Dolphin Drive in Houghton Regis and he had been injured there and then moved.

Humphreys had not immediately called 999, Miss Newell said.

He, his friend Karen Smith, and Ms Woodbridge, had instead taken him to the home of a relative, who also lived in Bromley Gardens.

Jurors were told how a 999 call was made, directing paramedics to the relative's house.

Ms Newell said the house had a CCTV camera which had captured the minutes before Archie was taken to hospital.

Footage showed Ms Woodbridge calling 999 and Humphreys, his mother Sharon Humphreys and Ms Smith trying to help Archie.

Paramedics were then seen arriving, spending several minutes attending to Archie, then carrying him out of the house.

Ms Woodbridge told police that Humphreys, his mother, and Smith "made her lie about what happened and when", jurors heard.

She had said they "put pressure" on her "not to place Kieran" in "sole charge of Archie".

Jurors heard that Smith, 40, Dolphin Drive, Houghton Regis; her partner, Sam Wyatt, 36, of Dolphin Drive; and Sharon Humphreys, 59, of Bromley Gardens had also admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Justice Morris indicated that Humphreys and his three co-defendants would be sentenced together.