Kieran Humphreys jailed for violently shaking baby to death and attempting to cover it up

A man has been jailed for life for the murder of a six-month-old baby after violently shaking the child, leaving him with a fatal brain injury and lying to cover up what happened.

Bedfordshire Police said baby Archie Woodbridge was left in the sole care of Kieran Humphreys, 33, on 9 February 2024, at the home of friends Sam Wyatt and Karen Smith in Houghton Regis, near Luton.

While Archie was in his care, Humphreys shook the child violently, leaving him critically injured.

However, instead of immediately calling an ambulance, Humpreys instead phoned his own mother, Sharon Humphreys.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said he also "spent time online browsing Facebook, buying clothes and looking at holidays".

When Wyatt returned home, he contacted Smith, who was with Archie's mother Saskia Woodbridge.

Ms Woodbridge had only met Kieran Humphreys a week earlier but had believed "that he would care for her child" because he "lavished attention on them", according to the trial judge.

Archie was taken to a relative's home nearby, in Bromley Gardens, where an ambulance was finally called - around 90 minutes after the injuries occurred.

Emergency services alerted Bedfordshire Police just before 5.30pm and the baby was taken to hospital but died later that evening.

Judge Mr Justice Morris, in his sentencing remarks, said that at the time of the offence, Humphreys had been on bail over an unrelated allegation, one of the conditions of which was "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 the baby became unwell, and insisted he had not been present.

Detectives discovered that all four adults lied to the police, claiming Archie had fallen ill while with his mother at Bromley Gardens and that emergency services had been called straight away.

Evidence revealed Archie suffered a fatal brain injury and fractured ribs from being violently shaken.

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.

"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."

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Humphreys was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murdering a child under one, child cruelty, and perverting the course of justice.

He will have to serve 21 years before he is considered for parole.

Sharon Humphreys, Wyatt and Smith all admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

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Sharon Humphreys was sentenced to nine months in prison, 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."