Woman who filmed her 3-year-old autistic stepson as he lay dying of a brain injury jailed for 15 years

A woman who filmed her fatally injured three-year-old stepson as he lay dying on the ground from a head injury instead of calling emergency services has been jailed.

Leila Borrington, 23, will serve 15 years in prison at Nottingham Crown Court for manslaughter, assault and grievous bodily harm.

The toddler, Harvey Borrington, was found cold by paramedics on August 7 last year at a property in Jacksdale, near Nottingham, UK.

Borrington was caring for the youngster alone when she allegedly slapped him on the head.

She insisted the toddler, who had been diagnosed with non-verbal autism, had ‘fallen backwards’ from a single-seat leather sofa at home.

But doctors said Harvey’s injuries, including a fractured skull, were caused by repeated blows to the head, rather than a single fall.

The court heard a medical expert’s view that fatal brain damage had been inflicted ‘hours before the collapse’: ‘By one or more forceful blows or slaps to the side of the head, followed by a subsequent substantial impact, causing the fracture of the skull. ‘

They were “all in agreement,” the prosecution said, “Harvey was unlawfully killed.”

Jurors were shown footage filmed by Borrington just moments after the incident, with the boy seen lying in pain on his right side with his arms stretched out in front of him.

He can be heard saying “Harvey, Harv” and raising his left arm, dropping it to the ground, as he moans.

Borrington claimed the video she sent to the child’s father who was not home at the time was to be shown to paramedics.

Prosecutor Jonas Hankin KC told jurors his behavior was “highly unusual under the circumstances.”

“His instinct, seeing an unconscious and distressed child with a serious injury from a fall, is to pick up his phone and make a video rather than call an ambulance,” he said.

Hankin added: “The tone of her voice, when she called Harvey’s name, in her attempts to wake him – if that’s an accurate description, we’re saying it’s not – suggests an absence of sympathy.

“The lifting and dropping of his arm in this way, similarly, seems to show indifference to the obvious seriousness of his condition.”

Rather than phoning the emergency services, Borrington would text Harvey’s father writing, “Why is this happening to me?”

When first responders arrived at the house at 2.15pm, Harvey was “floppy” with “staring” eyes and had vomited.

On the way to the hospital, Borrington texted Harvey’s father: ‘(Harvey) got up and was running around like a riot, playing happily as always, running between the sofas, then got up on the one and just came back… banging his head on the floor. ‘

Hankin claimed Borrington targeted Harvey because he was autistic – he only knew a handful of words and used hand gestures to communicate.

This meant he was unable to articulate that he was in pain, he added.