Finely Boden: Chesterfield couple accused in court of a united attack which killed baby found with 130 injuries

The claim came from the prosecution while the baby's father Stephen Boden was being questioned about the death.

Mary Prior KC had listed some of the 130 injuries found on Finley. These include bruising, 57 fractures and burns to one hand.

Boden, 30, and the baby's mother Shannon Marsden plead not guilty to murder, manslaughter, causing or allowing the death of a child.

Ms Prior suggested facial bruising was caused by tightly gripping Finley as part of an effort to stop him crying which would have alerted neighbours in Holland Road, Old Whittington.

She asked: "The two of you had to work together to avoid detection of these burns, fractures and bruising, didn't you?" Boden told her: "No."

During cross-examination at Derby Crown Court, she went on: "It took two hands, one of you squeezed him, fractured the pelvis, fractured the collar bones of Finley, who was crying and screaming in pain.

"Whilst one of you was fracturing his bones the other, one hand over the mouth, gripping the head, shoving the dummy in." Again Boden denied this.

Ms Prior said the 10-month-old toddler must have been "screaming in agony" but Boden told the jury: "No, he wasn't. He didn't cry, that's the thing."

The barrister said the baby was in far too much pain for it to be controlled by Calpol, which he had been given to him.

She claimed that the pair blew cannabis smoke over the baby "as pain relief." She told the court that Finley had so much cannabis in his body that the level was over the legal driving limit five days after his death.

Ms Prior said the pair failed to get medical treatment for Finley because the injuries would have been found.

She told Boden: "You killed him, didn't you?" Boden said: "No I didn't."

Ms Prior went on: "You both killed him. You watched him die because there was more interest in each other and smoking weed to look after a defenceless little boy."

Boden of Romford Way, Barrow Hill replied: "Obviously not, not what it was like at the time."

As she began to give evidence, 22-year-old Marsden denied causing any injury to Finley.

Andrew Vout KC, who defends her, asked: "Did you intend Finley to come to any harm of any kind?" She said: "Definitely not."

He went on: "Did you encourage or assist Stephen Boden to cause Finley harm?" She replied: "No I didn't."

The barrister asked: "Did you love Finley?" Marsden told him: "Of course I did."

Marsden, of no fixed address, said she met Boden when she was 16. They initially had a good relationship.

"I absolutely loved him. We just connected instantly. There are no words to describe it. He made me happy," she said.

But she said he later hit her, once dragged her along a street and started to throw things at her.

When asked what they were, Marsden said: "If I stood here and listed everything, I would be here next week."

At the time, Boden had appeared in court and was on a Safer Choices and a Domestic Violence Perpetrators' courses.

Mr Vout asked: "Were they doing any good?" Marsden told him: "No, at one point he got on the course because he couldn't be bothered to do community service."

When Boden had no cannabis, Marsden said he was "angry, irritated, violent."

She later admitted harming herself and told the court: "It was my way to cope."

Finley was born on February 15, 2020 and was taken into care a few days later, largely because of worries about "domestic violence and drug use."

Asking about the removal of the baby, Mr Vout said: "How did that make you feel? "Marsden told him: "I felt like I had been ripped in half."

Finley was later allowed to live with the couple in Holland Road and Boden began to take over much of his care, said Marsden. This included bathing and feeding.

When asked how he comforted Finley, Marsden said: "He used to stand up, rocking him constantly, not rough, no concerns, walking backwards and forwards from front bedroom to back bedroom."

Mr Vout asked: "What would Stephen do if you tried to interfere?"

Marsden said: "He would tell me to go downstairs, he could do it."

She never heard anything over the baby intercom to worry her when Boden was upstairs with Finley, saying: "Nothing happened to make me concerned."

The case continues.