Alfie Lamb car seat death: ‘Arrogant and selfish’ man admits manslaughter

A man described as “arrogant, selfish and deeply unpleasant” has admitted crushing a three-year-old boy to death with his car seat.

Stephen Waterson, 26, squashed Alfie Lamb in the footwell of his Audi convertible in what police said was a “selfish and cruel act” while his mother Adrian Hoare, who was Waterson’s girlfriend, looked on.

Afterwards, Waterson, the adopted son of former Tory minister Nigel Waterson, attempted to cover-up what he did.

He initially denied manslaughter and had been ordered to face a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict, but on Monday – ahead of his fresh trial – he changed his plea and admitted causing Alfie’s death by gross negligence.

At the end of May, Hoare, 24, from Gravesend in Kent, was found guilty of child cruelty and jailed for two years and nine months.

Both she and Stephen Waterson admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice by lying to police. Waterson, from Croydon, was convicted of intimidating a witness, and Hoare of assaulting another witness.

It is the first time anyone in the UK has died from being crushed by an electronic car seat, police have said.

On 15 February last year, the pair went shopping in Sutton with Alfie, another young child and two other people – Emilie Williams, 19, and 22-year-old Marcus Lamb.

Jurors in the earlier trial were shown CCTV of Alfie running to keep up with his mother just before he was put in the vehicle for the journey back to south London.

The court heard how Waterson, who worked in a nightclub, became annoyed with the little boy’s crying and moved his front passenger seat into him as he sat at his mother’s feet.

At the touch of a button, the maximum space in the foot well – 30cm (11.8 inches) – could be reduced to just 9.5cm (3.7 inches).

Hoare told jurors that when Alfie continued to moan, Waterson reversed again saying: “I won’t be told what to do by a three-year-old.”

When they arrived at Waterson’s home, Alfie collapsed and stopped breathing – and as medics desperately tried to save him, Waterson fled the scene.

In an attempt to protect her boyfriend, Hoare told a pack of lies, claiming she had been in a taxi. Three days later, Alfie died from crush asphyxia.

Waterson gave police a false name and statement, sold the car and threatened to make Hoare and other witnesses “disappear” if they failed to stick to their stories.

Hoare eventually broke her silence and told her half-sister Ashleigh Jeffrey what happened in a taped conversation handed to police.

But Waterson blamed Mr Lamb, who he regarded as a step-brother, for being a “grass” – and violently assaulted him in Crystal Palace Park – putting his foot on his head and filming the incident on his mobile phone.

During his first trial, jurors were told Waterson was a controlling womaniser, with a violent temper and that he had three previous convictions for attacking an ex-girlfriend and his sister’s husband.

Earlier this year when giving evidence, he denied he would ever hurt a child and claimed he moved his seat back once, by up to an inch.

As part of his basis for entering a guilty plea to manslaughter, Waterson maintained he only pushed the seat back one time.

The court was told social services had been involved with Alfie before his death.

Waterson was described as “arrogant, selfish and deeply unpleasant” by Scotland Yard’s detective chief inspector Simon Harding, who said Alfie had died as the result of a “selfish and cruel act”.

He said: “It’s hard to imagine what sort of pain anyone would go through when you are being crushed in that way.

“For a three-and-a-half-year-old to be crushed by something so strong and no one helping, it’s a shocking way to die.

“Stephen Waterson has come across as a selfish, abhorrent individual who killed a three-and-a-half-year-old child and has never stood up and said what has happened and taken responsibility for the actions he performed on that day.”

He described Alfie as “vulnerable” and said he had his life in front of him, but that on that day he had “no one to care for him”.

He added: “Hopefully Alfie’s voice has now spoken to say justice has been served.”

Waterson was remanded into custody ahead of sentencing on Monday 9 September.

(c) Sky News 2019: Alfie Lamb car seat death: ‘Arrogant and selfish’ man admits manslaughter