Sheffield Crown Court: Child murderer gets 'life' sentence after he killed his baby son in a 'momentary lapse of temper'

The jury in a long-running trial at Sheffield Crown Court found Leon Mathias, now aged 34, of Stonebridge Lane, in Great Houghton, Barnsley, guilty of murdering his nine-week-old baby son Hunter, who was taken to hospital with injuries on November 30, 2018, and later died on December 3, 2018.

Robert Smith KC, prosecuting, previously told the jury Hunter Mathias was just over two months old when he died at Sheffield Children’s Hospital from a severe brain injury and was also found to have three lower-limb fractures.

The judge, Mrs Justice Christina Lambert KC told the defendant during his sentencing hearing on Thursday, February 2: “I am sure and so are the jury that Hunter died from the effect of being shaken by you.” She added: “I have no doubt whatsoever that you did inflict those bruises at the same time you shook him or after.”

Mrs Justice Lambert also said: “You lost your temper and you took your frustration out on your nine-week-old son. Your behaviour was nothing short of grotesque.”

The defendant’s partner and others have stood by him and supported him throughout the trial and were also in the public gallery for his sentencing.

Mathias had pleaded not guilty to assaulting and murdering his baby son Hunter, but the jury found him guilty of murder on Monday, January 30 – just one day after Mathias marked his 34th birthday, on Sunday, January 29.

The jury had spent 27 hours, 29 minutes deliberating before returning a guilty verdict for murder at the end of the trial which started on October 26, 2022.

But they found Mathias not guilty of a second charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent between November 22 and 29, 2018.

A post-mortem examination revealed bruising to Hunter’s scalp was consistent with an impact injury to the head, according to Mr Smith, and scans revealed three lower limb fractures, including one which was believed to have happened around the time of the head injury with the other two occurring days earlier.

Mr Smith had originally claimed Mathias had assaulted Hunter and later murdered his baby son after he had lost his temper while the child was crying.

Labourer Leon Mathias had denied assaulting and murdering his baby son and he had claimed to the jury that he had tried to save Hunter after the youngster had suddenly stopped breathing during a bath.

He had also claimed Hunter had previously been struggling to breath while feeding and that he had got in the bath with his son on the evening of November 30, 2018, while his partner Becky Higginbottom was downstairs but they got out of the bath after the youngster had defecated.

Mathias, who has no previous convictions, said he wrapped Hunter in a towel and claimed his son started crying as he was being moisturised but then suddenly stopped breathing and as he tried to revive him his partner called 999.

Defence barrister Peter Griffiths KC confirmed Becky Higginbottom was given instructions by the 999 call operator which she passed to Mr Mathias telling him to lie the child on his back, carry out chest compressions, to check if there was any food in his mouth and to carry out a mouth-mouth procedure.

The defendant said Hunter vomited from his nose and mouth and Becky had said Hunter had stopped breathing and he had turned blue.

Peter Griffiths confirmed an auntie took over CPR before paramedics arrived and took Hunter by ambulance to Barnsley District General Hospital. He was later transferred to Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

Mr Griffiths told the court during the sentencing hearing: “This whole case has proceeded on the basis that this was something – an action – that was done in seconds by this defendant upstairs in his home at a time when we have heard direct evidence as to what was happening in that house.”

He added: “The whole thrust of the prosecution case is that it was a momentary loss of temper. Completely and utterly out of character and it happened in a flash.”

Mr Griffiths also said: “It was quite clear he did his best during that time, immediately after the incident, to help. There is no question about that.”

He also argued that there had been a significant delay in bringing the case to a conclusion after the incident had happened in late 2018.

Mr Griffiths said: “This defendant will have to live for the rest of his life with a conviction for murdering his firstborn son. This on any view is a terrible cross to bear and something he will have to pay [for] for the rest of his life.”

The judge – Mrs Justice Lambert KC – said an aggravating feature of the case was that Mathias had failed to tell anybody about what had actually happened.

She said: “Following Hunter’s collapse you could have told the truth about him. You knew you had shaken him and you knew that shaking a baby like that could be fatal.”

Mrs Justice Lambert also said she accepted what happened was not planned and Mathias had acted in irritation in a small house full of people after he had come home from work and he had snapped, and that his behaviour may well have been momentary and a “one-off” when he had caused violence to his son.

However she added: “You breached a trust in inflicting violence upon your defenceless nine-week-old son for no reason other than you had a hard day at work is truly horrifying.”

Mrs Justice Lambert sentenced Mathias to life imprisonment and he must serve a minimum term of 16 years before he can be considered for release.

She also told Mathias: “By shaking your son in your frustration you breached that precious relationship of trust that exists between a parent and a child.”

Following the sentencing, there was a shout from the public gallery of ‘love you’ to Mathias, ‘we are all behind you’ and ‘we all know you are innocent’.

There were further comments believed to have been aimed at the media in court including ‘we hope you can sleep at night’ and “what a set of a*******s’.