Parents killed baby after court was told they did not pose 'unmanageable risk'

A baby boy was placed back into his drug-taking parents’ care just months before they murdered him on Christmas Day during the COVID lockdown, new documents show.

Cannabis-using Shannon Marsden and Stephen Boden did not pose an unmanageable risk to their 10-month-old son Finley Boden, a family court hearing was told.

The transcript of the hearing, which was held over the phone during the pandemic, has been obtained by the media.

It shows that despite the local council calling for a gradual four-month transition back into the care of his parents along with drug testing, the court ordered Finley to be returned to them within eight weeks without any tests.

Finley was then given back to his parents as they appeared to lie about their drug use, with multiple drug deals taking place in the days immediately before his murder.

The baby died on Christmas Day in 2020 following a campaign of abuse by Marsden and Boden, which left him with 150 injuries including multiple bone breaks and fractures, bruises and burns.

His death took place just over a month after being returned to his parents’ full-time care at their home in Old Whittington, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in November 2020, after a court order made at a hearing at Chesterfield Justice Centre on 1 October.

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Marsden and Boden were said not to “pose such a risk” to Finley and it was not required for him “to be placed out of their care in the foreseeable future”.

The documents also show the court ordered Finley to be returned to his parents within eight weeks, even though social services asked for a four-month transition due to having “some concerns” over Boden and Marsden’s cannabis use and parenting abilities.

The baby was put under a care order a month before he was born due to fears over his parents’ use of the class B drug and their home environment.

Social workers who visited the house also reported it smelling of urine and cannabis, with litter and flies around the property, other documents released by the court show.

While being looked after by carers, Finley began seeing his parents at scheduled meetings, accompanied by social services.

Social worker reports from September 2020 said that despite the parents making improvements such as cleaning the house and decreasing their drug use, the pair had “not yet had the opportunity to fully demonstrate their ability to meet the needs of Finley” or to protect him from harm.

Social worker warned Finley was ‘at risk’

One social worker warned that Finley would be “at risk of suffering from neglect, physical and emotional harm” if Marsden and Boden continued their drug-taking or failed to continue making positive changes.

A representative for Derbyshire County Council told the family court hearing that “all parties” agreed Finley should “transition” back to the care of his parents but asked for this to be staged over four months and with the need for additional drug testing.

However, a representative for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), who was representing Finley at the near-two-hour hearing, challenged the four-month transition and said extra regular drug testing was necessary.

They said Finley’s welfare required rehabilitation into the care of his parents “and that should happen within an eight-week period”, along with continued supervision by the council.

The Cafcass representative added that Derbyshire County Council was “not presenting a case to the court that would suggest that these parents pose such a risk” to Finley that the risk is “not manageable” and requires him to be taken out of their care in the foreseeable future.

The parents’ use of cannabis became a vital theme of the criminal trial, with the jury hearing how a social worker witnessed one drug deal and jurors were shown images of cannabis paraphernalia next to baby formula which had gone off in the family’s cluttered home.

Finley’s parents ‘deceived everyone involved’

A Cafcass spokesperson said: “It is not possible to say whether a longer transition plan would have prevented Finley’s death.

“What led to his death was the ability of his parents to deceive everyone involved about their love for him and their desire to care for him.

“This deception included their own extended family. No one could have predicted from what was known at the time that they were capable of such cruelty or that there was a risk that they would intentionally hurt him, let alone murder him.”

Meanwhile, a council representative said at the family court hearing that drug testing the previous January had revealed that the parents were lying about their drug use, having shown “much higher usage” than they admitted.

They said that the decision to not enforce regular drug testing could “send the wrong message”.

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Marsden and Boden will be sentenced at Derby Crown Court on Friday.

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