Finlay Boden: The parents who “fooled everyone” into killing their son

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By George Tur, Navtej Johal and Callum Park, BBC News and Press Association

1 hour ago

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Finlay Boden suffered burns, bruises, and broken bones at the hands of his parents

Finley Bowden was 10 months old when he succumbed to horrific injuries at the hands of his mother and father. How did violent drug users convince professionals that they are responsible parents, despite all the evidence to the contrary?

“It’s unbelievable — you can’t put it into words,” is Det Insp Stephen Shaw’s assessment of the brutality Finlay endured.

The Derbyshire Police officer, who led the inquest into the infant’s death during the 2020 Covid lockdown, told the BBC he had “never seen this level of casualty” during his 23-year career.

Finley suffered 57 broken bones, 71 contusions and two burns, one likely from cigarette lighter flames.

Det Insp Shaw said Finlay would have been in “terrible pain” for up to 14 days before he died, 39 days after he was returned to his parents, Stephen Boden and Shannon Marsden, by social workers.

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Det Infit Stephen Shaw said he had never seen injuries as bad as the one Finlay suffered

The couple, from Old Whittington, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, were found guilty of murder after a trial at Derby Crown Court and jailed for life on Friday.

Judge Amanda Tables ordered Boden and Marsden to serve a minimum of 29 and 27 years, respectively, and said they subjected their son to “unimaginable cruelty.”

The judge said they were “both convincing and accomplished liars” who denied Finley medical care that would have saved his life.

The trial of Boden, 30, and Marsden, 22, began in November 2022, before the jury was cleared and a new president was sworn in.

The court heard that the couple were both regular and heavy users of cannabis, who prioritized getting money to spend on drugs over caring for their son.

Image source, Derbyshire Police

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Stephen Boden and Shannon Marsden were convicted at Derby Crown Court

Jurors were told how they worked together to keep professionals out of Finley to protect each other and cover up serious violence, and that the Covid lockdowns gave them the “perfect excuse” to do so.

This included canceling a health visitor’s appointment two days before his death, and when social workers arrived unannounced, he told them Finley might have Covid and refused to let them in.

At the start of the trial, prosecutor Mary Prior K.

Image source, Derbyshire Police

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Finley Boden, pictured November 30, 2020, less than four weeks before he was killed

The court heard how, despite frequent incidents of domestic violence and drug use, they both, remaining in love, had conspired to harm their son with “repeated acts of violence.”

Believing he was likely to suffer “significant harm” at home, Derbyshire County Council social workers removed Finley from his parents shortly after his birth in February 2020.

Boden and Marsden were living in squalor, the social workers said. Their terraced house reeked of weed, was “very unclean” and “occasionally dangerous, with feces on the floor”.

Image source, Derbyshire Police

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Boden and Marsden succeeded in convincing the professionals that they were fit to care for Finley

But over the next six months, the couple, aided by Covid restrictions that limited physical interactions with others, convinced social workers that they had made positive changes.

During the spring 2020 lockdown, social workers were not routinely going into homes. In Finlay’s case, his mother sent them pictures showing her house clean and tidy.

Image source, Derbyshire County Council

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Marsden sent social workers pictures of their house looking immaculate in an effort to get Finley back sooner

The couple has reduced their cannabis use in an effort to convince social services that they are responsible parents.

Later that year, Finley was returned to his parents’ care through a court order after an eight-week transition, although social workers requested a four-month transition, according to documents from the family court.

Finley had a guardian, Amanda O’Rourke, appointed to represent his best interests.

However, I was only able to see him once, via a WhatsApp video call, while he was with his carers. She wrote that he was a “smiley” who liked to “puff berries”.

Image source, Derbyshire Police

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Social workers said the family’s home “was at times precarious.”

She cited squalor, drug abuse, and domestic violence in his parents’ past. Her report said she had agreed in principle to a transition plan, but that it needed to take place much sooner, given that the parents had “made clear positive changes and have persisted”.

Ms O’Rourke’s report to the magistrates recommended that Finley return to his parents’ full-time care “within six to eight weeks”, half the time requested by the local authority.

Guardians are employed by Cafcass, an independent Family and Children’s Tribunal advisory and support service.

In a statement, she said it was “not possible” to say whether a longer transition plan would have prevented Finlay’s death, adding that this was due to his parents’ “ability to deceive everyone involved” about their love and desire for attention. for him.

Image source, Derbyshire Police

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Police described the house where Finlay lived as “filthy”.

After Finley returned home, cannabis use again became commonplace.

Money sent by relatives for the children was spent on drugs, and one drug deal was witnessed by a social worker two days before Finlay’s death.

Boden later admitted that he smoked the drug in the same room as his son.

The couple had a turbulent relationship, as Boden and Marsden overheard the argument by Neighbors early in 2019.

If you have been affected by any of these issues, you can visit the BBC Action Line.

On December 12, 2020, Marsden texted a relative saying Boden “didn’t want Finley in the house”.

She later sought emergency accommodation in Chesterfield, while Boden told his cannabis dealer that his partner and son were “working out my issues”.

On December 21, days before Finlay’s fatal collapse, Marsden texted another relative, saying, “Ask the police to talk to me, and tell them I’m afraid of Stephen about the baby.

“He hit me again… He told them he was going to kill me. He just tried.”

“Please, I’m going to die. I’m not kidding.”

While Marsden stayed, neither she nor Boden took Finlay to a GP or hospital, preventing family members and social services from seeing him.

When paramedics arrived in the wee hours of Christmas Day, they noticed that Finley had dirty nails and clothes, and they believed he had been dead longer than Boden and Marsden had suggested.

Image source, Derbyshire Police

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The jury was shown pictures of doors with holes in them

Toxicology tests showed that cannabis was found in Finley’s blood, indicating that he must have inhaled the smoke in the 24 hours before his death, the court said.

After Finley’s death is announced, Boden and Marsden tell a series of lies, giving different accounts to different people, at different times, of the details of their son’s illness.

When they are called to see him off at the hospital, Marsden tells Finlay that she is sorry and “let him down”.

But later on Christmas Day, the couple was heard asking what food would be served at a family dinner and they were seen laughing and joking at a family gathering on Boxing Day, with Boden later telling a relative that they had delayed calling an ambulance so they could. They hide their drugs.

Blood, feces, and saliva were seen on Finley’s bed and on clothes, along with bottles of leaked milk and signs of cannabis use.

On January 11, 2021, Marsden saw Finlay in a morgue and was heard to say, “His father beat him to death. I didn’t protect him.”

Image source, Derbyshire Police

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Dirty dishes and cutlery were piled high in the family’s crowded kitchen

During the trial, details of Boden’s anger were revealed.

The court saw photographs of doors with holes perforated, and heard details of how Boden slapped and verbally abused Marsden during a line two days before Finlay’s death.

Other fights saw Marsden “hit her in the face several times” and Boden put his hands around her throat, the jury heard.

Although released on bail on no-contact terms, the couple continued a sexual relationship, meeting frequently as they remained under investigation for the murder of their son.

After being locked back up in 2022, they send each other Valentine’s Day cards. In Marsden’s to Boden, she says she will love him “forever” and will always be by his side.

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Neighbor Georgia Hubbard said she could not understand how Boden and Marsden Finley lived in such squalid conditions.

Georgia Hubbard, who lives next door to the family, told the BBC that Finley, his parents and the house were “very dirty” when she first met them.

“My first, honest thought was, ‘I don’t understand how they got the kid to live there,'” she said.

“If I had known what I know now, I would have done something but how are you supposed to slice it together through a wall? I will forever feel guilty for it. It makes me sick.”

“As parents, you’re supposed to protect them, not hurt them. I just don’t get it.”

The condition of the house on Holland Road has been confirmed by police officers.

It hurt so bad

Det Insp Shaw said they found the place a mess with dishes not washed for weeks, food moldy on the floors and Finley’s room “dirty”.

There were blood stains on his bed and there was dog feces inside the house.

“But I don’t think that prepared us for the level of infection that we found when the autopsy was done,” he said.

“I think sometimes we don’t say anything that surprises us anymore, but this investigation has continued to surprise us.

“The broken bones in his body were more than broken bones [Finley] He was in excruciating pain.

“He suffered terribly. The injuries were 14 days ago. So, in the 39 days he was in their care, he was abused for about half of that time.

Adding to the pain, no medical attention was sought and an infection developed in the wounded, resulting in sepsis which was to add to his pain and suffering in the days before his death.

Of Boden and Marsden, he said, “I think they’re evil. Why would you want to do that to any human being, let alone a defenseless child?”

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