Mother, 33, who let her boyfriend murder her two-year-old son by 'hitting his head against a wall' is jailed for eight years - as killer gets life sentence

A mother who allowed her partner to violently murder her 'blameless' son days after his second birthday has been jailed for eight years.

Sarah O'Brien, 33, was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of Keigan O'Brien and child cruelty after a trial at Sheffield Crown Court lasting nearly five weeks.

Martin Currie, 36, her partner of six months, was jailed for a minimum of 22 years for murdering the Doncaster toddler, who was found to have sustained numerous injuries in the weeks leading up to the 'catastrophic' head injury that caused his death.

The court heard it took the couple two hours to ring the emergency services for help after Keigan was found to be unresponsive and not breathing on January 9 at the family home in Doncaster, South Yorks.

Sarah O'Brien, 33, and boyfriend Martin Currie, 36, have both been jailed for the death of her son Keigan, who was found to have sustained numerous injuries in the weeks leading up to the 'catastrophic' head injury just four days after his second birthday

Miss Justice Jennifer Eady QC said Currie's internet use at the time was 'chilling' as it told of his panic at finally noticing that his stepson was unresponsive.

Judge Eady added that Currie had first tried to contact his drug dealer in a 'pathetic sign of self-absorption', having relapsed with his heroin use.

But she said the pair showed 'no impetus' to seek treatment for the little boy who lay dying on his bed.

Keigan had been ignored for hours by Currie, until he was found 'floppy and cold', Judge Eady said.

She added: 'At no point did you take the most obvious step to call the emergency services.'

Sheffield Crown Court heard how the tragic tot died from a brain bleed, which could have resulted from his head being hit against a hard surface.

Sarah O'Brien, 33, was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of Keigan O'Brien and child cruelty and jailed for eight years. Martin Currie, 36, her partner of six months, was jailed for a minimum of 22 years for murdering the Doncaster toddler at Sheffield Crown Court

Prosecutors previously told the court that over the previous weeks Keigan had endured a broken spine, broken ribs and a broken arm due to twisting.

O'Brien claimed she returned home on January 8 after taking Keigan's siblings to school to calls from Currie to go upstairs.

She said she then saw the toddler on his bedroom floor and called 999.

The court heard Currie was witnessed being rough with the child and on one occasion said to him 'stop moaning, you little b******', and O'Brien referred to her son as 's*** stain.'

Katherine Goddard QC, defending O'Brien, said Currie had been trying CPR before police and paramedics did the same on their arrival and before Keigan was taken to hospital.

Christopher Tehrani QC, defending Currie, claimed Currie had confronted O'Brien when he had found Keigan much earlier that morning and that Currie had been prepared to concoct a story to save her.

Currie had told the court he would never hit a child and claimed he had never hit Keigan and that he had once been in love with O'Brien.

Currie denied the murder charge, but was found guilty. 

He was also found guilty of cruelty to a child between July 2019, and January 2020 by willful ill-treatment or neglect causing unnecessary suffering or death. 

Sentencing Currie, Mrs Justice Eady said: 'I must sentence you for the violent murder of a blameless two-year-old left in your care.

'These offences involved the grossest abuse of a position of trust.

'You placed yourself in the role of Keigan's father, your duty was to protect him, instead you abused, injured and killed him.

'You inflicted appalling physical suffering on Keigan before he died.'

To O'Brien, the judge said: 'The jury found that you were aware, or ought to have been aware, of the risk of serious physical harm posed to Keigan by Martin Currie.

'At the very least, you failed to protect Keigan, leaving him with Martin Currie to be subjected to the very significant force used in the incident that led to his death.' 

Judge Eady said that an aggravating factor in sentencing O'Brien to eight years imprisonment was that she 'must have known' the risk that Currie posed to her son, given the past attacks.

However, she said that she accepted Sarah was a 'woman with low self-esteem' and that she was 'vulnerable to the affections' of a man like Currie.

Judge Eady added that there was evidence of some remorse on O'Brien's part.

She said: 'You've lost your son forever and have been separated from your daughters, your culpability does not retract from that.'      

Jill Brookes from the CPS said: 'Tragically, little Keigan O'Brien's life came to an end only four days after his second birthday.

'He was killed in his own home - the place where he should have been safest from harm.

'Having heard all the evidence, the jury decided that Currie inflicted fatal injuries on the defenceless little boy, and O'Brien took no steps to protect her child.

'They both then lied about what had happened. Currie is now beginning a life sentence and O'Brien has been sentenced to eight years.

'The desperately sad and shocking outcome of this case is that Keigan's life ended before it had barely begun.

'Our thoughts remain with the rest of Keigan's family, as they have been throughout.'