Alfie Phillips: Man accused of toddler's murder woke to find him 'floppy'

Jack Benham said Alfie was a "brilliant" boy

A man accused of murdering his girlfriend's baby has told a jury he woke up to find the child "floppy" in the bed lying next to him.

Alfie Phillips died on 28 November 2020 with multiple bruises and fractures, Maidstone Crown Court has heard.

His mother Sian Hedges, 27, and her former partner Jack Benham, 35, deny murdering the boy in a caravan in Kent.

Mr Benham told the jury he woke up to find the child lying partly underneath him.

He said: "His lips were blue, he didn't look good at all.

"I didn't know what to do, I was shaking him on the bed saying Alfie, Alfie.

"I scooped Alfie up and I was crying and I screamed into his body with my mouth on him, I was screaming and screaming and ran out of the caravan."

Defence counsel Ian Henderson KC asked Mr Benham what his intentions were at the time, to which he replied: "To hear that boy cry, to hear him moan, I needed something, I had to hold the back of his head like a new born baby because it was so floppy."

Mr Benham told the jury that on the night the prosecution claim Alfie was murdered he smoked cannabis and at least a gram of crack cocaine, as well as drinking more than half a bottle of whiskey.

Alfie's mother Sian Hedges and her ex-partner Jack Benham deny murder

He said Ms Hedges had also taken cocaine and had been drinking.

He told the jury he had put pressure on Ms Hedges to go to her friend's house that night to buy more drugs when they had run out.

The jury heard Ms Hedges did leave the caravan in the early hours of the morning for about half an hour to drive to a friend's house to try and buy cocaine, leaving Alfie and Mr Benham alone.

Mr Benham told the jury Alfie was asleep and did not wake up.

He told the jury he never deliberately hurt Alfie and had never seen Ms Hedges hurt him.

He was asked why he had said "what have I done?" at the hospital, which was overheard by a paramedic.

Mr Benham said: "The way Alfie's face had been up against me, up until recently, I thought I had suffocated Alfie, I thought I had killed him."

The trial continues.

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