The state of Kansas will pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of Adrian Jones, who was murdered by his father and fed to pigs.

The lawsuit, filed in 2017 by the child’s mother and relatives, said the state child protection agency took him from an abusive home before starving and torturing him.

Police found the 7-year-old’s remains in a pigsty on the property of his father and stepmother Michael and Heather Jones in November 2015.

Both are serving 25 years to life sentences for his murder, after beating Adrian and locking him in a shower stall and watching him deteriorate on surveillance camera.

Gov. Laura Kelly and top leaders of the Kansas Legislature approved the settlement Tuesday during a brief public meeting.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families received reports that Adrian was being abused several years before his death.

Their last physical contact with him was nearly four years before his death, according to more than 2,000 pages of documents released by the agency in 2017.

The records showed that all three moved regularly between communities in Kansas and Missouri.

The lawsuit argued that the state and social workers “could have intervened at any time and saved Adrian,” but “chose to act as disinterested bystanders.”

The Kansas agency argued that frequent moves made it difficult to monitor the boy.

Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, one of the lawmakers who approved the settlement, said she believes the state bears “a lot of responsibility” for what happened.

Kelly said the problem wasn’t the potential harm in a lawsuit, but the lawsuit distracting from “the mission at hand” to improve the child welfare system.

“It really had to do with us wanting to get that settled and not spend time litigating in court for months, maybe even years,” she said.

Matt Birch, a lawyer representing the family, said: “This has been a long journey for Adrian’s family.

“The most important thing for the family was to hopefully make a change and make sure this is less likely to happen in the future.”

Police had responded to the home in 2015 for a domestic violence call, with Heather Jones accusing Michael Jones of beating and choking her.

Once there, she blurted out that the boy’s father had fed him to their six feeder pigs two months earlier, in late September.

The investigation into her claims revealed harrowing evidence of years of abuse with Heather, sickeningly proud of the way she tortured her stepson and captured it in photographs.

He was locked behind a plywood door in a shower, forced to stand in standing water up to his neck for hours, chained, tied up, starved and beaten.

His stepmother called him “the boy” instead of using his first name. While she and Adrian’s father cared for their six girls, he was accused of abuse of the worst kind.

The injuries photographed included deep cuts to his face and lips, suffered while trying to fight his way out of the cardboard cell his parents had created for him in a shower stall.

He was also photographed with a cutting board tube taped to his chest and strapped to an inversion table.

The pair were arrested in 2015. Heather pleaded guilty to murder in November 2016 and was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years.

In May 2017, Michael Jones received the same sentence after also pleading guilty in March that year.

In 2013, Adrian told a staff member at the Children’s Department in Missouri, where the family lived at the time, that his father kept hitting him in the head.

“My dad keeps hitting me on the head and punching me in the stomach and my mom keeps pulling on my ears and it really hurts.

‘Mom and dad lock me in my room alone. Mommy and daddy can’t feed me,” he said during the interview, which was promoted by an anonymous phone call raising concerns about Adrian’s well-being.

Shockingly, he was allowed to continue living with the couple and shortly thereafter they moved to Kansas City, Kansas.

When he died, Adrian was a little bag of bones and his last months were hell.

Instead of a proper burial, the child was fed to pigs that his father had bought specifically to get rid of his emaciated body.

The boy’s death was followed by a multi-year overhaul of child welfare system laws.

In 2021, “Adrian’s Law” required officers and case workers to visually observe children suspected of being victims of abuse or neglect.

The state has also taken steps to improve training for doctors to recognize abuse and provide “wraparound” services to struggling families.

Birch said he and the family hope that with the lawsuit and the 2021 law, “more eyes will be on these children.”

Adrian’s relatives also filed a lawsuit in 2017 in Jackson County, Missouri, also in the Kansas City area, against officials in that state.

The case was settled in 2020, but details were not immediately available and Birch said he could not comment.

Dragons’ Den viewers say they have ‘put off’ watching the BBC show after a private landlord secured investment for his thermostat company, leaving tenants unable to turn on their heating.

Anthony Cherry, a landlord from Amersham in Buckinghamshire, presented the Dragons with his TIME:O:STAT invention in Thursday night’s episode.

The TIME:O:STAT is managed by the tenants, but means the heating can only be left on for two hours at a time. Tenants can also opt for a ‘comfort mode’ of up to eight hours at a lower temperature – but cannot choose to run the heating continuously.

Mr Cherry, who has been investing in houses of multiple occupancy (HMO) for 20 years, especially in student housing, claimed his idea would ‘save the landlord time and energy’.

But after securing an £80,000 investment from entrepreneur Touker Suleyman in return for a 20 per cent stake if he got his money back, viewers were left shocked that the Dragons had promoted such a ‘bad idea’.

One wrote on

“And none of the dragons thought it was sexy?! It kind of put me off the whole program.”

Another added: ‘What a bad idea. I can’t keep the heat on on a cold night unless the greedy landlord allows it.’

A third said: ‘Touker has invested in a landlord who wants to determine how often his tenants have the heating on. Not cool,” while a fourth added: “Why isn’t anyone pointing out the HUGE moral issue with this stupid thermostat?

“How dare he dictate what temperature his paying tenants should keep their homes at? I assume they’re all insulated to the highest standards, right?’

Speaking to the Dragons, Cherry said: ‘During a maintenance visit I noticed there was a problem.

‘It was a warm, sunny day and the tenants were not at home, but the heating was on full blast and the windows were wide open.

‘When I spoke to the tenants, they said the thermostat was too complicated and they left the heating on continuously. When I looked at the thermostat I completely understood what they were trying to say.

“So I decided to make something custom.”

He initially asked for an investment of £80,000 in return for a 10 percent stake in his company.

He said his thermostat company aimed to simplify the process of heating homes because renters could press the + button in the left corner to add more time if necessary.

The idea is to control how long the heating remains on, but tenants can choose to turn the heating back on at any time.

Sara Davies agreed that thermostats are too complicated, saying: ‘I remember being at university and never being able to control the thermostat.

“It’s just different from the others – there are still a lot of buttons and a lot of options, and even that is more complicated than it needs to be.”

After first launching in 2016 and redesigned three times, Cherry impressed the team when he said TIME:O:STAT made a net profit of £93,000 in 2023.

But at a purchase price of £169.99 or £229.99 for each thermostat – compared to £20 for an average model – Deborah Meaden backed out of a deal due to the high capital expenditure.

Sara Davies, Peter Jones and Stephen Bartlett also said they were out because of alternatives in the market such as Nest.

But real estate investor Souker made a last-minute deal with Cherry, but wanted a 35 percent return in the company, dropping to 25 if he made his money back.

After a tense negotiation, Cherry was offered the full £80,000 – and Souker agreed to a 20 percent stake in the company if he received a return on his investment.

After leaving the room, Cherry told the camera, “That was one of the most intense experiences of my life. Amazingly tense, scary, nerve-wracking. Wow.’

Last week, Steven Bartlett left his fellow entrepreneurs red-eyed after closing a lightning deal with a leading company.

But he has also been labeled as ‘out of touch’ by viewers of this series after talking about companies being sent PR packages.

Dragons’ Den continues next Thursday at 8pm on BBC One.

GERI Halliwell was seen wearing a spiritual bracelet to “ward off evil” as she stood next to scandal-hit Christian Horner.

The Spice Girl, 51, presented a united front with the under-fire F1 Red Bull boss at the Bahrain Grand Prix yesterday.

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

She had landed in the Middle East on Thursday evening, when a flurry of sexually suggestive WhatsApp messages and photos between 50-year-old Horner and a female employee rocked the F1 world.

Despite the storm surrounding her scandal-hit marriage to Horner, Geri turned up at the Bahrain Grand Prix to watch her husband engineer a dominant victory for world champion Max Verstappen.

However, the pop icon was seen bringing out her spiritual side in a bid to protect scandal-hit Horner.

Photos showed Geri wearing a red string bracelet on her left wrist, showing her commitment to the Jewish spiritual teachings of Kabbalah, a belief she has long followed.

It is believed that wearing the sacred bracelet wards off ‘evil and misfortune’.

Sources close to the pop icon suggest that Geri has become increasingly spiritual over the years and has lately been interceding to help deal with the pressure her husband was putting on their marriage.

A source told the newspaper Mail: “Geri is really into hippie-dippy spiritual healing, she really believes in it and has been trying to use it a lot lately.

“Meditation is her big thing, she swears by it.”

The spice girl even wore her signature white dress as she showed her ‘bravery’ and showed a show of solidarity

Following the shocking sexting claims, Geri is said to have felt ‘a fool’ for trusting her ‘prince charming’ husband after he played down the messages.

The singer now faces “the biggest decision of her life” as she decides what the next step in her marriage to Horner will be, her friends said.

Friends of the star reportedly stated that it would “break her heart” to end things with Christian as she sees him as the man she has been waiting for since she was a little girl.

An insider said: “She often acts impulsively. She has a temper, that’s for sure, and doesn’t Christian know that?

It’s understood Geri “had a meltdown” when she landed in Bahrain and discovered Horner’s sext leak.

But she still publicly showed her affection in an effort to support her scandal-stricken husband.

Ginger Spice walked hand in hand with her husband to a catering area prior to the race yesterday.

They shared an awkward hug before Horner leaned in and planted a fawning kiss on his wife’s cheek as he wrapped his arm around her back.

After Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen stormed to victory in yesterday’s season opener, Geri was hugged tightly by her husband as she flashed a forced smile for the cameras.

The public displays of affection came as showbiz sources said Geri had been considering the future of her nine-year marriage to Horner, the father of her seven-year-old son.

Someone close to the singer said: “Many people who know her are surprised by this show of support.

“There is absolutely no doubt that she is furious and has read him the riot act about what happened.”

Horner’s series of shock sexts to a female colleague were leaked after the F1 boss was cleared in a Red Bull investigation last week.

The series of messages and photos show details of private conversations between the F1 boss and an unknown employee who appears to be a woman.

The series of WhatsApp messages, which also named Horner’s wife Geri Halliwell, were sent from an anonymous email to hundreds of journalists.

Some of them appeared to show him asking the woman for photos and in others he appeared to discuss a solo sex act in an airplane toilet.

Horner said he “will not comment on anonymous speculation” after material allegedly part of Red Bull’s recent investigation into him was leaked.

The racing chief previously declined to comment on the leaked WhatsApp sexts, which were sent anonymously to F1 bosses and media outlets on Thursday.

13

13

13

The wife of outspoken Putin opponent Alexei Navalny has declared Vladimir Putin ‘will answer’ for the death of her husband in custody and vowed that the Russian President’s ‘evil regime’ will soon meet its downfall. 

In a defiant and emotional speech at the Munich Security Conference today, Yuliya Navalnaya held back her tears to declare: ‘(Navalny) would have been here, in this hall. 

‘I don’t know whether you believe the awful news that we received – just from Russian state sources. Because for many years we have not been able to believe Putin and his government, they always lie.

‘But if it’s true I want Putin, his whole crew and all of his friends to know that will answer for what they have done to our country, my family and my husband. That day will come very soon. 

‘And I call on the international community, the people in this room, and people everywhere that we fight and beat this evil, this terrible regime in Russia led by Vladimir Putin. They are to be personally held responsible for all the horrible things they have done to us.’

Russian news outlets this afternoon announced Navalny’s death – citing the Siberian prison service where he was serving his sentence – but gave no cause of death or further information.

The news sparked shock and anger around the globe, with world leaders and commentators quickly pointing the finger at the Kremlin.  

Navalny was ‘brutally murdered by the Kremlin,’ Latvia’s president declared, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was ‘obvious’ Putin had ordered the dissident’s killing.

‘Obviously he was killed by Putin. Like thousands of others who have been tortured,’ Zelensky declared, citing Navalny’s passing as yet more evidence of why Putin must be made to ‘lose everything and held accountable for his actions’. 

As Putin’s fiercest foe, Navalny crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests – drawing the merciless retribution of the Kremlin.

He once survived an assassination attempt involving the Novichok nerve agent, but returned to his homeland upon his recovery, despite knowing he would be arrested.

Ever since, he has been serving time on extremism charges after being sentenced to 19 years behind bars, and in December was moved from a prison in central Russia to a ‘special regime’ penal colony known as ‘Polar Wolf’ above the Arctic Circle.

The 47-year-old was last seen via video link during a court hearing on Thursday. 

Dressed in black prison uniform, he appeared to be in good spirits – his trademark humour back on show. 

‘Your Honour, I will send you my personal account number so that you can use your huge salary as a federal judge to ”warm up” my personal account, because I am running out of money,’ he said. 

Navalny’s mother Lyudmila said she had seen her son in the prison colony on Monday. At the time, she said: ‘He was alive, healthy, cheerful.’

But the Federal Prison Service said in a statement today that Navalny felt unwell after a walk and lost consciousness. An ambulance arrived to try to save him, to no avail.

Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev – an ally of Navalany who has followed his trial closely, said: ‘I have no doubt that the death of Alexei Navalny is not natural.

‘Even propagandist Russian channels, linked to the special services, called this a political assassination. Who are we to doubt their own words?’

Reports of his death prompted shock and anger across Europe.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak paid tribute to the ‘fiercest advocate for Russian democracy’, saying Navalny was a prominent and persistent critic of Putin who had ‘demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life’.

The Prime Minister said: ‘This is terrible news. As the fiercest advocate for Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life. My thoughts are with his wife and the people of Russia, for whom this is a huge tragedy.’

Foreign Secretary David Cameron said ‘Putin should be accountable’ for his death.

Lord Cameron said: ‘Navalny fought bravely against corruption. Putin’s Russia fabricated charges against him, poisoned him, sent him to an arctic penal colony & now he has tragically died.

‘Putin should be accountable for what has happened – no one should doubt the dreadful nature of his regime.’

France’s President Emmanuel Macron accused Russia of sentencing ‘free spirits to the gulag’ and ‘condemning them to death,’ expressing his ‘anger and indignation’ and hailing Navalny’s ‘courage’.

The White House said if confirmed, Navalny’s death would be ‘a terrible tragedy.’

Speaking on NPR, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also added the Kremlin’s ‘long and sordid’ history of harming its opponents ‘raises real and obvious questions about what happened here.’

Vice President Kamala Harris said the US was working to confirm the death of Navalny, adding that it would be a further sign of Putin’s brutality.

US president Joe Biden had warned in June 2021 that Putin would face consequences if Navalny died in prison.

But the Kremlin bit back, declaring that the US must not make ‘sweeping accusations’ about Navalny’s passing. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Navalny’s death was a ‘tragedy’ and exposed Putin as ‘a monster’.

‘It really shows the extent to which Putin has (or) will crack down on anyone who is fighting for freedom for the Russian people,’ Trudeau told public broadcaster CBC.

‘On February 16, 2024, in correctional colony No. 3, convict Navalny A.A. felt unwell after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness,’ said a statement from prison officials. ‘Emergency doctors confirmed the death of the convict,’ it added.

Russian news agency Interfax reported that it was told the ambulance team reached the colony where Navalny was serving his sentence in seven minutes.

It took another two minutes to reach the patient, it claimed.

‘The doctors who arrived at the scene continued the resuscitation measures that were already being provided by the penal colony’s doctors. And they spent more than half an hour. However, the patient died,’ said the local hospital.

Reports said his time of death was recorded as 2.17pm local time (7.17am GMT).

Bellingcat’s Grozev noted that the statement announcing Navalny’s death was posted just two minutes later – at 2.19pm.

Russian Nobel Peace Laureate and newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov, speaking to Reuters, called the death a ‘murder’ and said he believed Navalny’s prison conditions caused his death. 

Navalny’s spokesperson said on the X social media platform that she was unable to confirm his death. Kira Yarmysh said that Navalny’s lawyer was travelling to the site of the prison where he had been serving his sentence.

Leonid Volkov, a Navalny aide, said: ‘The Federal Penitentiary Service in the Yamalo-Nenets District is disseminating news about the death of Alexei Navalny in IK-3.

‘We don’t have any confirmation of this yet. Alexey’s lawyer is now flying to Kharp. As soon as we have any information, we will report it.’

Russia’s TASS news agency reported that Navalny did not complain about health problems before his death.

Putin has been informed about his rival’s death, his spokesman confirmed.

Dmitry Peskov said: ‘As far as we know, in line with all the existing rules, the FSIN [prison service] are running all the checks and establishing… all of that. No orders are needed for that because there is a certain set of rules for these occasions.’

Asked if it was true there was a blood clot, he said: ‘I don’t know, I don’t know…. The medics should establish [cause of death].’

In Putin’s Russia, political opponents often faded amid factional disputes or went into exile after imprisonment, suspected poisonings or other heavy repression.

But Navalny grew consistently stronger and reached the apex of the opposition through grit, bravado and an acute understanding of how social media could circumvent the Kremlin’s suffocation of independent news outlets.

He faced each setback – whether it was a physical assault or imprisonment – with an intense devotion, confronting dangers with a sardonic wit.

When Putin sent troops to invade Ukraine in 2022, Navalny strongly condemned the war in social media posts from prison and during his court appearances. 

Meanwhile, whenever Putin spoke about Navalny, he made it a point to never mention the activist by name, referring to him as ‘that person’ or similar wording, in an apparent effort to diminish his importance.

France said the opposition leader had paid with his life for resisting ‘oppression’, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Navalny ‘paid for his courage with his life.’

The EU said it held President Putin’s Russia solely responsible for the death.

‘Alexei Navalny fought for the values of freedom and democracy. For his ideals, he made the ultimate sacrifice,’ European Council President Charles Michel posted on X. ‘The EU holds the Russian regime for sole responsible for this tragic death.’

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said it was ‘obvious’ Navalny had been killed by Putin. ‘Putin does not care who dies as long as he keeps his position,’ he said. 

‘And that is why he should not keep anything. Putin should lose everything and answer for what he has done.’ 

Exiled Belarus leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said: ‘This death is further proof that for dictators, human life has no value.

‘The Putin regime, like the Lukashenko regime, in an effort to maintain power, gets rid of opponents by any means. Alexei, like many Belarusian political prisoners, was repeatedly sent to a punishment cell. This was done for the 27th time in February.

‘We all saw in the photo how such conditions of detention affected his condition. That is why I have no doubt that Navalny was purposefully killed by the Putin regime.’

Anti-Putin campaigner Bill Browder said in a statement: ‘Let’s make no mistake, Putin assassinated Alexei Navalny. He did so because Alexei Navalny was brave enough to stand up to Putin. He did so because Navalny offered the Russian people an alternative to kleptocracy and repression. This is a tragic day for Navalny and his family, but also for Russia and the hope for a better future.’

Browder also expressed his shock and sorrow for Navalny’s family – his wife Yuliya Navalnaya, 47, and their two children – a son and a daughter.

‘I feel terrible for his family and I feel terrible for all the people of Russia that were hoping there could be a brighter future through someone like him,’ he said.

Russians also hit out at the Kremlin following the news.

Garry Kasparov, a Russian chess grand master, said Putin ‘murdered’ Navalny ‘slowly and publicly in prison’ while Russian Nobel Peace winner Muratov also described Navalny’s death as ‘murder’.

Russian writer Akunin Navalny said with his death, Navalny ‘has become immortal’.

Evgenia Kara-Murza, wife of British-Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza who is currently jailed in Siberia, said: ‘During a recent court hearing, Alexei looked well and was, as always, in good spirits.

‘Having witnessed two assassination attacks on my husband, I respect his team’s decision to abstain from comments until they’ve been able to see Alexei.’

But Putin’s apologists were quick to hit back at the international reaction.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: ‘The immediate reaction of NATO leaders to Navalny’s death in the form of direct accusations against Russia is self-exposing.

‘There is no forensic examination yet, but the West’s conclusions are already ready.’

Top Putin propagandist Margarita Simonya, head of the RT state media empire, said: ‘I was waiting to see who would be the first to say ‘political assassination’.

‘The Guardian seems to be the first,’ she said, adding: ‘but the Oscar is still going to Latvia – their [president] declared as much as ‘brutally murdered.’

‘I won’t even begin to explain to them that everyone has long forgotten [Navalny], that there was no point in killing him, especially before the elections, that it would be beneficial to completely opposite forces.

‘Why explain something when they already know it all perfectly well.’

Navalny was also seen in January when he was moved to a Russian penal colony in the Arctic Circle, smiling and laughing while in court via video-link. 

The hearing was for one of many lawsuits he filed against the penal colony – this particular one challenged one of his stints in a ‘punishment cell’.

At the hearing, Navalny cracked jokes about the Arctic weather and asked if officials at his former prison threw a party when he was transferred.

His allies decried the transfer to a colony in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow, as yet another attempt to force Navalny into silence.

The remote region is notorious for long and severe winters. Kharp is about 60 miles from Vorkuta, whose coal mines were part of the Soviet gulag prison-camp system. 

Since August 2022, Navalny had been ordered to a punishment cell 27 times, the last occasion on February 14. In total, he spent 308 days in the punishment cell.

There were claims Putin demanded to see reports of Navalny undergoing punishment, and being humiliated by guards.

Navalny had been on the Kremlin’s radar for over a decade.

In 2013, he was convicted of embezzlement on what he called a politically motivated prosecution and was sentenced to five years in prison, but the prosecutor’s office later surprisingly demanded his release pending appeal. 

A higher court later gave him a suspended sentence.

The day before the sentence, Navalny had registered as a candidate for Moscow mayor. The opposition saw his release as the result of large protests in the capital of his sentence, but many observers attributed it to a desire by authorities to add a tinge of legitimacy to the mayoral election.

Navalny finished second, an impressive performance against the incumbent who had the backing of Mr Putin’s political machine and was popular for improving the capital’s infrastructure and aesthetics.

His popularity increased after the leading charismatic politician, Boris Nemtsov, was shot and killed in 2015 on a bridge near the Kremlin.

Navalny miraculously survived a suspected assassination attempt with a nerve agent in August 2020 during a flight to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk, where he was organising opposition candidates.

He collapsed in the aisle while returning from the bathroom, and the plane made an emergency landing in the city of Omsk, where he spent two days in a hospital while supporters begged doctors to allow him to be taken to Germany for treatment.

Once in Germany, doctors determined he had been poisoned with a strain of Novichok – similar to the nerve agent that nearly killed former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018.

The attack also resulted in the death of another woman.

Navalny was in a medically induced coma for about two weeks, then labored to recover speech and movement for several more weeks. 

His first communication while recovering showed his defiant wit – an Instagram post saying that breathing on one’s own is ‘a remarkable process that is underestimated by many. Strongly recommended.’

The Kremlin rejected it was behind the poisoning, but Navalny challenged the denial with an audacious move – essentially a deadly serious prank phone call. 

He released the recording of a call he said he made to an alleged member of a group of officers of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, who purportedly carried out the poisoning and then tried to cover it up.

The FSB dismissed the recording as fake.

Russian authorities then raised the stakes, announcing that during his time in Germany, Navalny had violated the terms of a suspended sentence in one of his embezzlement convictions and that he would be arrested if he returned home.

But remaining abroad wasn’t in his nature. Despite knowing he would be detained, the father of two returned to Russia in January 2021. 

In just over two weeks, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to two years in prison.

The events sparked massive protests that reached to Russia’s farthest corners and saw more than 10,000 people detained by police.

As part of a massive crackdown against the opposition that followed.

A Moscow court in 2021 outlawed Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and about 40 regional offices as extremist.

The verdict that exposed members of his team to prosecution.

Despite the outcry, Navalny was behind bars ever since, and received three prison sentences, all of which he rejected as politically motivated.

Less than a month after the start of the war in Ukraine, Navalny was sentenced to an additional nine-year term for embezzlement and contempt of court in a case he and his supporters rejected as fabricated. 

The investigators immediately launched a new probe, and in August 2023 Navalny was convicted on charges of extremism and sentenced to 19 years in prison.

After the verdict, Navalny said he understands that he’s ‘serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the length of life of this regime.’

Since then, he had spent months in isolation at Prison Colony No. 6 before his transfer to IK-6. He was repeatedly placed in a tiny punishment cell over alleged minor infractions, like buttoning his prison uniform wrong.

They also refused to give him his mail, deprived him of writing supplies, denied him food he had ordered and paid for in addition to regular meals, and would not allow visits from relatives, Navalny argued in his lawsuits, challenging his treatment.

A documentary called ‘Navalny’ that detailed his career, his near-fatal poisoning and his return to Moscow won an Academy Award for best documentary in March 2023.

Navalny was asked for a documentary: ‘Alexei what if you’re arrested and thrown in prison, or the unthinkable happens and you’re killed? What message would you leave behind for Russian people?’

He said in English: ‘My message for the situation when I am killed is very simple, not give up.’

Then he said in Russian: ‘I have an obvious thing [to say] don’t give up, you shouldn’t and must not give up. If it happened, it means that we are extraordinarily strong at this moment if they decided to kill me. This force has to be used. Don’t give up!

‘Remember that we are a huge force which is under pressure of these bad guys only because we can not realise how strong we really are. All that is needed for the evil to succeed is good people not acting. That’s why you should not not act.’

Director David Roher said in accepting the Oscar: ‘Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all: We must not be afraid to oppose dictators and authoritarianism wherever it rears its head.’

Navalny’s wife also spoke at the award ceremony, saying: ‘My husband is in prison just for telling the truth. 

‘My husband is in prison just for defending democracy. Alexei, I am dreaming of the day you will be free and our country will be free. Stay strong, my love.’

In his last post Navalny had sent a Valentine’s message to his wife.

It read: ‘Baby, everything is like in a song with you: between us there are cities, the take-off lights of airfields, blue snowstorms and thousands of kilometers. But I feel that you are near every second, and I love you more and more.’

Navalny’s reported death comes a month before Russia’s presidential elections, which will run from March 15 to March 17.

Putin is widely expected to win, keeping him in power until at least 2030.

As she continued to work in New York – and, after 1964, in Chicago – her paintings eventually embraced figurative art again – and sometimes combined the two.

In the 1970s, she became an activist in the art world as a founding member of the Five, a group of abstract artists who worked together to hold exhibitions of major works in the lobbies of Chicago buildings, and as an active member of the Artemisia Gallery. , a feminist cooperative there.

By then, she had begun teaching at the University of Chicago, where she remained a respected faculty member until 1995.

“Vera taught me that a painter must balance craft and ideas: too much skill and a painting is boring, too conceptual and a painting is bloodless,” Joanne Berens, a former student, wrote in an email. “Although her own ideas came from high European culture, Vera was never a snob and encouraged her students to express ideas that came from their own lives.”

Mrs. Clement received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1981.

In addition to her son, she is survived by her life partner Peter Baker, a retired pediatrician. Her marriages to Werner Torkanowsky, a violinist and conductor, and Ralph Shapey, a composer and conductor, ended in divorce.

In 2019, Ms. Klement completed “Carpeted,” an abstract expressionist painting of a flying carpet. When it was finished, she retired.

“She slowed down and made fewer and fewer paintings,” said her son, Mr. Shapey. 'She was not yet without ideas. But she looked at it and said, “I said everything I wanted.”

Annie Kilner’s sister has condemned Lauryn Goodman for her ongoing ‘torment and cruelty’ after Kyle Walker was confirmed as the father of her baby daughter. 

Walker’s two-year marriage to Kilner is in ruins after the Manchester City and England full back confirmed he had fathered the child with influencer Goodman out of wedlock. 

The footballer had already welcomed a son, three-year old Kairo, with Goodman in 2020 during an earlier separation from Kilner. 

The couple share three sons and the brunette, who met Walker when they were teenagers, is now seven months pregnant with their fourth. 

Taking to Instagram on Monday evening, Kilner’s sister Sian slammed Goodman for continuing to antagonise the mother-of-three despite being aware of her pregnancy. 

She wrote: ‘@lauryngoodman91 When does your torment end? My sister who is now 7 months pregnant, has faced your cruelty for almost 5 years now. 

‘What’s your goal? To see how much stress you can put on a pregnant woman? To create a false victim narrative around what you did? You clearly lack empathy but this level of evil is out of control and harms everyone – especially the children.’ 

Rubbishing Goodman’s claim that she and Walker enjoyed a loving relationship – an allegation the footballer denies – she added: ‘Stop accusing others: your true self is revealed. The so-called ‘loving relationship’ is a facade.. It’s not fooling anyone so why don’t you just give us all a break and stop. 

‘Also, He has one sugar, Nestle Coffee Mate and semi-skimmed milk. But that’s the coffee you get at home… Not the ones in hotels or Air B&BS.’ 

England and Manchester City footballer Walker has called in lawyers to hit back at the ‘wild and untrue’ stories reality star Goodman has been promoting. 

Furious Goodman had attacked Walker for playing down their relationship which she said was ‘intimate and loving’ by branding the England ace ‘deluded’.

The reality star was responding to claims in a new interview where Walker says he and Lauryn ‘were never in a relationship’ and suggested the two children they share were conceived via one-night stands.

Now a spokesman for  the Manchester City defender has said he is consulting lawyers in order to end the stream of ‘untrue stories’ that Goodman was bringing forward. 

The spokesman said: ‘Kyle has spoken fully and honestly about his mistakes and the true situation involving Lauryn. 

‘He has instructed lawyers and will not be making any further comment on the wild and untrue stories she is promoting in the media in search of self publicity and financial gain.’

Walker is desperately trying to salvage his marriage to Kilner, the mother of his other three children, who kicked him out of their £2.7million home following a series of cheating scandals.

But after reading Walker’s version of events and his attempts to downplay their links, Lauryn has responded by saying the pair enjoyed a ‘long-standing, intimate, loving and affectionate relationship.’

Her spokesman told MailOnline: ‘Lauryn is aware of an interview Kyle Walker, the father of her two young children, has given to a newspaper today.

‘While she does not want to get into the details of everything he has said at this stage, she is disappointed by his deluded version of events – which is dramatically different to her own recollection of their long-standing, intimate, loving and affectionate relationship.

‘Having read back through many years of messages sent between them to assure herself that her memory is accurate, she is confused as to how he has seemingly forgotten their many highly personal conversations and memories made with their children as a family.

‘The story that he is putting out to the public is not the reality.

‘He is using his wealth and influence as a high level footballer to hire a major PR firm and conduct interviews depicting a narrative which is simply untrue.’

A spokeswoman for Kyle told Mailonline: ‘Kyle has spoken fully and honestly about his mistakes and the true situation involving Lauryn. 

‘He has instructed lawyers and will not be making any further comment on the wild and untrue stories she is promoting in the media in search of self publicity and financial gain.’ 

Kyle is currently living alone in a £3m property while Annie, who is pregnant with their fourth child, continues to look after their three children Riaan, Roman and Reign.

Speaking to The Sun, Kyle issued a grovelling apology to his wife admitting he made ‘idiot choices and idiot decisions’.

He said: ‘What I’ve done is horrible and I take full responsibility.

‘I made idiot choices and idiot decisions. I can’t begin to think or imagine what Annie is going through. I’ve tried to ask her but there’s pain and hurt.

‘The man that’s meant to love, care and be there for her, did this.

‘There have been days in this ordeal where I’ve just wanted to curl up in a ball and go to sleep.

‘The only person to blame is me. I have roles and responsibilities that I’m aware of and I’ve made stupid choices. But I need to own up to my mistakes — I owe it to everyone.

‘My actions have caused a lot of pain to a lot of people. I’m sorry because, as a family, this isn’t meant to happen.’

Kyle went on to reveal his pain at not being able to see his three children with Annie and saying goodnight to them on FaceTime, rather than face-to-face.

He also recalled his conversation with Annie regarding the first love child he conceived with Lauryn, Kairo, who was born in April 2020.

Calling her from City’s training ground, Kyle says: ‘I’ve got to tell you something. I had a one-night stand with someone.’

After naming Lauryn, he confirmed: ‘I’ve got to tell you something else,’ before adding: ‘She says she’s pregnant and it’s mine’.’

Annie booted him out of the home they shared together but later took him back for the sake of the children, saying: ‘How can I hate the man my kids love so much?’

But in early 2022, Kyle saw Lauryn in London while undergoing groin surgery and claims they had a second one-night stand, resulting in the birth of their three-month-old daughter, which resulted in Annie sparking an official separation.

Although Lauryn insists she and Kyle had numerous intimate liaisons.

On having a second baby with Lauryn, Kyle said: ‘It wasn’t intentional or premeditated but I slept with her. A lot was going on. It’s not an excuse. I’d ruptured my groin, I had a World Cup to get fighting fit for.’

He continued: ‘Lauryn told me at the end of October, early November. I remember going upstairs at the training ground when I got a phone call from her. I was with the physio at the time. I nearly fainted. I was just white. He said to me, ‘What’s the matter?’, and I wouldn’t tell him because I needed to process it myself.

‘I asked if we could scrap the session and he just said, ‘Fine’.

‘I went into survival mode. I was like, ‘What can I do now every day to make sure that I go home to Annie and the boys?’.

When I was dealing with all this, I was still able to play football. My mum and my dad and my friends have asked me, ‘How?’.

‘But it was my release. It was 90 minutes, 100 minutes, two hours if you want to call it that, where I didn’t have to look at that phone or listen to demands from a certain someone.

‘I’ve tried my utmost to keep this under wraps, not because I’m embarrassed or ashamed . . . I try to be a private person.

‘I take full ownership of the choices that I’ve made that have hurt other people.’

‘No one’s put a gun to my head and said that I’ve got to do these things. I have done it by my own accord and I won’t blame anything or anyone else in this situation.

‘It was me that did it, me and Lauryn. We both did this.

‘If I could go back and do it a different way, I would. I knew what was coming. The second child had been born and the deadline was set. It scared me.’

Kyle admits Lauryn’s pregnancy was ‘the straw the broke the camel’s back’ in his marriage with Annie, who has also ditched her wedding ring.

Announcing their separation earlier this month on Instagram, Annie said: ‘Sadly, after many years of marriage and three wonderful children together, I have decided to take some time away from Kyle.

‘I do not wish to comment on the position any further. For now, I ask that the privacy of myself and my three young children be respected during this difficult time.’

Kyle and Annie’s relationship was marred with allegations surrounding the England star’s infidelity.

He had a fling with Ex on the Beach star Laura Brown in April 2019 and there were claims he held a sex party in lockdown with escorts and shared texts with a Playboy model while away on international duty.

There was also a vehement Facebook denial eight years ago that he was in any way linked to an explicit and sickening video involving a woman.

After Kyle was caught on CCTV in a bar apparently flashing friends and fondling a mystery blonde woman’s breasts last year, his wife famously posted on social media: ‘No matter how good you are to people, it won’t make them good to you.’

The Pentagon’s former UFO chief has revealed his conclusion to one of the most famous UFO cases of the modern era: the Navy’s baffling ‘cube in a sphere’ UFO was just a super high-tech drone.

US Navy fighter pilots had reported seeing these other-worldly craft near the Atlantic coast between 2014 and 2015, which nearly tore the wing off an F/A-18 Super Hornet that was flying with the USS Roosevelt during one incident.

Now Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the Pentagon’s recently retired UFO chief, says that the objects were likely ‘next generation,’ ‘spherical’ drones that move ‘very accurately.’

While not confirmed, his description matches a drone-prototype made public by Chinese researchers in 2022 — a silver orb with eight thrusters configured at the tips of an internal cube, making it capable of unprecedented mid-air twists and turns.

The case highlights why UFOs must be taken seriously and not be subject to ridicule, Kirkpatrick suggested. 

Dr Kirkpatrick’s new comments come ahead of the Pentagon’s congressionally mandated ‘Historical Record Report’ on UFOs, due to lawmakers in June of 2024. 

DailyMail.com was given an early draft transcript of Dr. Kirkpatrick’s appearance on Fresh Produce Media’s ‘In the Room with Peter Bergen,’ in which the physicist delved deeper into the national security risk that has come from stigmatizing eyewitness reports of UFOs.

‘That gap could potentially be exploited by somebody,’ Dr. Kirkpatrick told Bergen, ‘put a platform in [the] continental United States that nobody knew was there.’

A longtime laser physicist, Dr. Kirkpatrick’s government service took him to the Air Force Research Laboratory, the CIA and a position at America’s highly secretive spy satellite agency the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) before chasing UFOs.

The physicist’s Air Force colleagues once nicknamed him ‘Dr. Evil’ after the laser-obsessed villain in the Austin Powers series of spy film spoofs. 

‘One of my going away presents, as I was leaving the National Reconnaissance Office,’ Dr. Kirkpatrick told CNN national security reporter Peter Bergen, ‘was one of my close colleagues gave me a shark with a laser pointer strapped to its head.’

Dr. Kirkpatrick headed up the Pentagon’s then-brand new All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) from July 2022 until the end of December 2023, leveraging his scientific expertise toward the tricky task of investigating military UFO cases.

Last May, Dr. Kirkpatrick briefed NASA’s UFO advisory panel that AARO had logged roughly 800 cases of flying, spherical ‘metallic orb’ UFOs.

‘This is a typical example of the thing that we see most of,’ Dr. Kirkpatrick told the panel. ‘We see these all over the world and we see these making very interesting apparent maneuvers.’ 

It’s unclear just how similar these metallic orbs may be to the UFOs first brought to public attention by former Navy lieutenant and fighter pilot Ryan Graves, who described them to Congress as ‘a dark gray or black cube inside of a clear sphere.’

But Dr. Kirkpatrick told the podcast these otherworldly craft may very likely have been a foreign espionage platform.

‘There’s a large number of people, pilots, others, who have said, ‘Hey, I saw this giant sphere. It had a cube in it,” he said, ”I don’t understand it. It must be an alien.”

‘Well, actually, no, there’s a number of papers out,’ Dr. Kirkpatrick continued in this early, uncut draft of his podcast interview with CNN analyst Peter Bergen.

‘The most recent one was from, University of Singapore, I believe, where the next generation of drones that are being built are spherical.’

‘They’ve taken about a two-meter size, inflatable, and they put a cube inside of it,’ Dr. Kirkpatrick continued. ‘And everywhere the corner of the cube touches the sphere, they’ve fused it, cut it out, and put little thrusters in.’

‘So, now I have eight thrusters. And I can put cameras on it and anything else I want,’ the ex-AARO chief told Bergen. 

‘With eight thrusters in a cube configuration, I can maneuver this drone around very accurately.’ 

Scientists with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) in China did, in fact, prototype a spherical drone along these lines, dubbed the ‘Spherical Indoor Coandă Effect Drone (SpICED)’ in a September 2022 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Drones. 

The research team in Singapore noted that their new prototype, which benefited from an internal propulsion system with eight nozzles in a cube configuration, showed a promising 40 percent reduction in ‘trajectory control error’ during their test flights. 

The SUTD’s ‘cube in a sphere’ drone prototype, they wrote, proved to be more swiftly and accurately maneuverable than their past internal ‘tetrahedron’ configuration.

But the Chinese-made drone is not the only novel unmanned spherical craft in production: Swiss-based Flyability has been producing ‘spherical’ drones since at least 2015, when it won a $1 million competition in the United Arab Emirates.

The makers of Flyability’s ‘gimbal’ drone and the SpICED balloon drone both cited collision safety as their reasoning for pursuing these unmanned aircrafts’ round designs — not high maneuverability for clandestine spying.  

But they are not the only actors pursuing this kind of aerospace research, according to AARO’s departing director. 

‘They’ve tried these all over the place,’ Dr. Kirkpatrick said.

‘There are a number of advanced technologies that are being commercialized that people don’t recognize,’ he said. ‘Why they go immediately to ‘this is extraterrestrial’ is another conversation.’

Speaking to Bergen’s podcast, Dr. Kirkpatrick emphasized that he sees more terrestrial, counter-intelligence and defense-oriented tasks as AARO’s primary reason for being.

‘The office’s mission is not to prove the existence of extraterrestrials,’ he said.  

‘The office’s mission is to minimize technical and intelligence surprise. That is the primary mission.’

The laser physicist noted that last February’s Chinese spy balloon drama, when multiple objects were tracked and shot down within US and Canadian airspace, could be attributed to AARO’s work focusing on anomalous aerial activities.

In the past, Dr. Kirkpatrick said, ‘in the long list of things that they need to be paying attention to, this one was at the bottom of that list.’ 

‘So, there is a gap — and no one fully, I think, appreciated until the last few years that that gap could potentially be exploited by somebody,’ he explained, ‘put a platform in, you know, [the] continental United States that nobody knew was there.’ 

But Dr. Kirkpatrick’s terrestrial approach during his 18-month tenure at AARO has not been without its critics — particularly over his very public disagreements with UFO whistleblower and fellow NRO veteran David Grusch. 

Dr. Kirkpatrick expanded his own criticisms of Grusch in his new interview with Bergen, describing him as someone who had ‘fallen to the influence’ of UFO ‘True Believers’ within the US military and private defense contractor Bigelow Aerospace, which investigated UFO cases on contract for the Pentagon from 2007 to 2012.

In a new op-ed published by Scientific American last week, Dr. Kirkpatrick further dismissed Grusch as one of several ‘conspiracy-minded ‘whistleblowers.” 

Grusch, a former high-ranking US intelligence official, has accused the US military and its private contractors of illegally hiding evidence of crashed UFOs, recovered ‘beings,’ and even UFO-related deaths, both under oath to Congress and in the press. 

For their part, these same UFO whistleblowers have accused Dr. Kirkpatrick of fostering an ‘atmosphere of disinterest,’ while others have suggested his superiors are secretly holding back AARO’s UFO investigation efforts. 

Daniel Sheehan, the Harvard-trained lawyer who represented UFO whistleblower Luis Elizondo in his complaint to the Pentagon’s Inspector General, said last year to DailyMail.com, ‘really knowledgeable’ UFO whistleblowers ‘never did trust Sean.’ 

Instead, ‘what they were doing is they were going straight through to the Senate Intelligence Committee,’ Sheehan said. 

(To be sure, however, some military UFO witnesses have also described ‘really positive’ experiences with the Dr. Kirkpatrick’s office.)

In portions of Dr. Kirkpatrick’s podcast interview — which appear to have been cut before air — the retired government scientist commented that AARO’s benefit to the US Intelligence Community (IC) was its latitude to conduct domestic surveillance.  

‘We filled a gap,’ Dr. Kirkpatrick said. ‘The intelligence community is prohibited by law from observing [the] continental United States, right?’ 

‘And so, the only people that actually have authority to do that, really, are FBI, Homeland Security, [and] a few other counter-intelligence elements across the IC,’ he noted, ‘but that’s pretty much it.’

‘No one fully, I think, appreciated until the last few years that that gap could potentially be exploited by somebody […] And that’s where you ended up with Chinese balloons,’ he said. 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Peter Bergen and a spokesperson for his podcast, in an effort to learn why these statements were deleted from the final version of the new interview. This article will be updated with their response.

Evil mother Sian Hedges can be seen lying in police footage that she had not touched her murdered son Alfie as she was jailed with her boyfriend for life today.

Hedges can be seen clutching a bottle of Coca Cola in the back of a police car as an officer questions her on her son’s injuries. 

Hedges responds: ‘What do you mean?’ before declaring ‘you’re joking’.

The appalling mother can then be seen lying through crocodile tears as she says: ‘I haven’t done anything to him’.

Hedges and her former lover have been jailed for life today for the ‘wicked and torturous’ murder of the defenceless toddler.

She and her ex Jack Benham ruthlessly slaughtered 18-month-old Alfie Phillips during a ‘frenzied’ onslaught in their caravan home in Kent in 2020 – less than two months after the murderous duo met. 

Alfie suffered more than 70 injuries to his tiny body when he was beaten to death and smothered by the evil pair during lockdown. 

Fuelled by cocaine, whisky and cannabis until the early hours of the morning, Hedges, 27, and Benham, 35, carried out a night of ‘violent discipline’ after calling Alfie ‘whingey and upset’. 

The toddler died with a ‘myriad of bruises’, broken ribs, arms and leg, and also had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system, after the barbaric attack which took place in Benham’s caravan in Hernhill, near Faversham, Kent.

Today, a judge jailed the evil duo for life, with Hedges set to spent 19 years behind bars and Benham to serve 23 years.  

Hedges met her former soldier lover Benham in September 2020 at a mutual friends house where the pair would buy drugs. She was still dating Alfie’s father, Sam Phillips, at the time. 

Evil Hedges would get high with her new lover in drug binges. But she would return to Mr Phillips, adding: ‘It was like he held me under a spell.’

In a victim impact statement read in court, a heartbroken Mr Phillips said: ‘After the trial we still feel we deserve answers. I will never know the truth about what happened to my son.

‘I never got to hear him say his first proper words, I never got to have a conversation with him, I was robbed of the opportunity to see him grow up.’

Reacting to the sentencing, a heartbroken Mr Phillips said his son’s killers had ‘finally got what they deserved’.

‘The outcome could’ve been better – but we have got the justice in our hearts,’ he told reporters. ‘Justice has been been done. We can finally move on.’

Sam’s fiancée Sarah Merritt added: ‘They thought they were going to get away with it but they didn’t.’

Jurors took nearly ten hours to convict the pair following a nine-week trial at Maidstone Crown Court last year. 

During the trial, Alfie was described as ‘good as gold’ and ‘lively’ by his father who said there was ‘never a dull moment’ with him and that he was always playing and laughing. 

The court heard Benham admit he and Hedges were drug addicts who would regularly take drugs around her son.

They began their relationship in September 2020 after meeting at a mutual friend’s house where they would buy drugs.

On the night before Alfie died, Benham said Hedges went to buy drugs from their friend and repay her £400 debt, and also get mixers and drinks for their evening together in the caravan.

The former Army man said the pair were drinking, chatting and watching YouTube videos that evening as ‘normal’.

They claimed they shared a bed with little Alfie overnight and woke at 11.30am to find him unresponsive.

But the prosecution said this was the time Alfie must have been violently assaulted.

Prosecutor Jennifer Knight KC said: ‘It was all a lie, the truth is you and Sian were both present and involved in that assault, you and Sian both killed Alfie.’

The toddler was discovered blue and floppy on the morning of November 28 2020, and paramedics said it was ‘immediately apparent’ to them that Alfie had been dead for some time.

Jurors heard that Benham’s mother tried to perform CPR on him after Benham came out of the caravan, where he lived in his parents’ garden, carrying Alfie.

Joan Benham recalled her son pleading: ‘Mum, do something, he’s not breathing, mum do something.’

Harrowing footage reveals the moment murderous mother Hedges was first questioned by cops after being arrested for the savage attack on her son.   

Sat in the back of a police car, clutching a bottle of Coke, and in disbelief as an officer explains that some of Alfie’s injuries can’t be accounted for, to which Hedges brashly replies: ‘What do you mean?’ 

The officer explains that bruising to the toddler’s eye, a deformation to one of his wrists and a potentially old fracture on one of his arms that came up in an X-ray would require further explanation. 

As the officer officially announces his arrest of Hedges, she is stunned, and pleads: ‘I haven’t done anything to him’.

The footage also shows the arrest of Benham, who the officer recognises as being ’emotional’, as he places him under arrest for the neglect of a child, while the 35-year-old wearing a tracksuit sits in the back of the police car. 

Benham can be heard becoming agitated, shocked that the officer is arresting him, and throws his girlfriend under the bus, as he says: ‘No, you can’t arrest me. What about Sian?’

The court also heard about other injuries Alfie had sustained in the months before his death, and explanations for them, such as a cut under Alfie’s eye from playing with keys, and his fingers being caught in the dog gate in Benham’s parents’ home.

In text messages sent in the weeks before his death, Benham said that as a ‘joke’ Hedges should bite the little boy hard, after she messaged: ‘Little shit bit my arm this morning, f****** hurt.’

During the trial the court heard Benham’s caravan was untidy and there was no cot or essential items needed to care for a young child.

Blood was also found on Alfie’s sleepsuit and bedding, which was later confirmed through DNA analysis to be his own.

Today at Maidstone Crown Court, prosecution counsel, Jennifer Knight KC, described the attack as ‘aggressive discipline which became a furious assault’.

She said Alfie had gone through a ‘long period of physical suffering’ prior to his death, at the hands of two people in the ‘ultimate position of trust.’

Ms Knight read a victim impact statement to the court, written by Alfie’s father Sam Phillips.

It said: ‘When my son Alfie was born on May 26, 2019, our lives changed forever. I loved him immediately.

‘When he was little he was the sweetest little baby. Alfie was growing into a great toddler – he was into everything.

‘He would climb everything. We certainly had our hands full but he made us smile.’

The statement continued: ‘I loved him. He was my little boy. Alfie’s smile would light up any room.

‘As a family we have so many happy memories of how cheeky he would be.’

Mr Phillips said he finds these memories ‘really hard’ to think about following Alfie’s death.

He continued: ‘Words cannot describe the devastation Alfie’s death had on us as a family.

‘My world stopped and it was never ever going to be the same again.’

Mr Phillips said his son’s death had had a huge impact on his mental health and sent him ‘over the edge’.

He described how he has struggled to sleep since and has turned to alcohol to help him ‘drown out the unbearable’.

He continued: ‘The fact that I was not there to stop it and to protect my son, haunts me.’

The victim impact statement explained how Mr Phillips was unable to see Alfie in hospital because Hedges had told police he was not involved in his life.

He added: ‘I was not even able to see him in the hospital after he died. It was too late.

‘Sian’s heartless lies stopped me from being able to say goodbye.’

Mr Phillips concluded: ‘I never got to hear him say his first words. I never got to have a conversation with him. I was robbed.

‘We have not had closure and even after the trial we feel we haven’t had answers.

‘I will never know the truth about what happened to my son.

‘Every day for the rest of my life, I will be thinking about this over and over.’

Alfie’s paternal step-grandfather Mark Demain, also gave a victim impact statement, which was read to the court by Ms Knight.

He said: ‘When Alfie was born on May 26, 2019, he blew us all away. It’s hard to describe the love we had for him but it was instant and unconditional.

‘We felt like our best friend had arrived on the day he was born. Our lives seemed to have become perfect.’

He continued: ‘We yearned to see him everyday and then that day came – the day he was killed – and he was gone. He was taken from us at just 18-months-old.

‘We have never experienced pain like this and never thought we would. I would describe it like the light in our souls has gone out.’

Mr Demain said he and Marie, Alfie’s grandmother, will ‘never be the same again’.

He concluded: ‘Our best friend, our grandson, was so cruelly taken from us that day. Every day we are hurting.

‘Our shining light that shone so bright will always be in our hearts.

‘If only we could tell Alfie how much we miss him and how much we love him.’

Sentencing the pair, Mr Justice Cavanagh said: ‘The injuries suffered by Alfie that night were so numerous and so serious that the medical experts were not able to say which of them had been the immediate cause of Alfie’s death.

‘It is absolutely clear, however, that the cumulative effects of these vicious and brutal assaults resulted in his death.

‘It must have taken some considerable time to inflict these injuries on Alfie, and the pain and fear that he must have suffered is almost unimaginable.

‘As I have said you were the only two people in the caravan with Alfie on the night of 27 November 2020, and you have both continually lied about what happened.

‘However, it is clear that you had planned to spend the night taking drugs and drinking.’

He continued: ‘It is a great tragedy that Alfie did not have the chance to grow up and enjoy a full and happy life.

‘The sentences that I am about to impose cannot possibly compensate for the loss of this child’s life.

‘There is only one sentence that the law allows me to pass for the offence of murder.

‘It is a sentence of life imprisonment.’

Reacting to the jailing, child protection charity NSPCC said: ‘The pain and suffering endured by Alfie Phillips in his short life, inflicted by those whose responsibility it was to care for him, was shocking and heart-breaking.

‘Young children are totally dependent on the adults around them, and therefore particularly vulnerable to abuse. So it is vital that all is done to ensure the youngest members of our society are well cared for, protected and given the chance to thrive.

‘It is crucial that anyone worried about a child’s safety speaks out about their concerns.’

Alfie Phillips joins a heartbreaking rollcall of children killed in lockdown after the tragic deaths of Star Hobson, Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Kaylea Titford

By SUKHMANI SETHI

Alfie Phillips, the 18-month-old toddler whose parents were today jailed for life for beating and smothering him to death, is one of a growing list of children killed in lockdown.

As millions of Britons were confined to their homes at the height of the Covid pandemic, little Alfie suffered a ‘myriad of bruises’, broken ribs, arms and legs, after a barbaric attack in his stepfather’s caravan.

Traces of cocaine and alcohol were found in Alfie’s system, as his mother, Sian Hedges, blamed the restrictions for increasing her anxiety, which compelled her to take drugs on a weekly basis. 

It follows a familiar, grim pattern of abusive parents using lockdown ‘as a cover’ to carry out their cruelty, with similar violence dished out to a host of other young victims including Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson, whose cases tugged at the heartstrings of the nation.

Experts have explained how usual safeguarding methods or chances to spot serious abuse such as schools, health workers and children’s clubs were absent or moved online during the pandemic, meaning abusers could harm children in their care with impunity. 

Alfie joins a heartbreaking rollcall of children killed in lockdown, including two-year-old Kyrell Matthews, who was left with 41 rib fractures and internal injuries by the time of his death after weeks of cruelty at the hands of his mother Phylesia Shirley and her boyfriend Kemar Brown. 

Meanwhile, the case of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, who was poisoned and tortured in what should have been a safe home, shook the nation for its sheer depravity when the six-year-old was murdered by his cruel stepmother Emma Tustin on 17 June, 2020.

She was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 29 years and the boy’s father Thomas Hughes was jailed for 21 years for manslaughter.

Similarly, Star Hobson was just 16 months old when she was murdered by her mother’s girlfriend Savannah Brockill in September 2020.

In the lead-up to her death, she had suffered months of abuse in her home in Keighley, west Yorkshire, during the coronavirus lockdown in 2020.

Elsewhere, two-year-old Lola James was tragically killed by her evil stepfather, suffering 101 injuries including brain damage similar to what is sustained in high-speed car crashes in July 17, 2020.

Then on October 10, 2020 16-year-old, Kaylea Titford, who suffered from spina bifida, was found dead at her home in Newtown, Powys, after her parents allowed her to become morbidly obese during lockdown.

In another tragic example, five-year-old Logan Mwangi was murdered by his mother, step-father and teenage step-brother on July 31, 2021.

His body, which suffered 56 ‘catastrophic’ injuries consistent with a ‘brutal and sustained assault’ was found in the River Ogmore near his home in Sarn, Bridgend county.

Alijah Thomas, five, who begged her mother Martina Madarova, 41, not to kill her as she strangled her to death at their home in Ealing, west London, on September 14, 2021 is another victim.

The court had heard from Jack Benham, Alfie’s stepfather, how he and Hedges began their relationship around September 2020 through meeting regularly at the same friend’s house where they would buy drugs. 

Tests showed the pair had used cocaine and Hedges admitted to police she had taken a £40 bag over the course of three hours after Alfie went to sleep, the prosecution said. Benham also said he smoked some cannabis, which he did regularly. 

The boy was discovered blue and floppy on the morning of November 28 2020, and paramedics said it was ‘immediately apparent’ to them that Alfie had been dead for some time.

The youngster was taken back to the caravan at 7pm and was not seen again by anyone other than Benham and Hedges until about 11.30am the following morning. It was during these hours Alfie was brutally murdered by the pair. 

He said they left him to fall asleep without being cuddled, while together they drank whisky and Coke, ‘getting drunk, but not too drunk’, with Hedges telling police they had their last drink at about 1am and then went to sleep in the same bed as Alfie.

Benham told police Alfie was ‘whingey and upset’ when he was put to bed between 7pm and 8pm on the night of Friday, November 27. 

The despicable pair denied harming Alife on the night that the toddler had his life cruelly snatched away from him, with Hedges and Benham pointing the finger at each other.

Hedges said Alfie stirred but went back to sleep with his dummy. She said he was ‘fine and normal’. She then recalled Benham waking her up saying ‘What the f***’s wrong with him? Oh my God. He’s under my leg’.

The court heard Benham, who is not Alfie’s father, said he thought he had suffocated him.

Hedges said Alfie was floppy and his lips looked blue and she had a gut feeling he was dead but denied having caused him any injury and said she had no idea how Alfie could have fractured his arms or sustained any serious injury.

But Jurors had heard about older injuries Alfie sustained in the months before his death, such as a cut under Alfie’s eye which was explained by the toddler playing with keys and his fingers being caught in the dog gate in Benham’s parents’ home. 

A skeletal survey and post-mortem examinations indicated many of the breaks to his bones would have occurred in the hours before Alfie’s death. 

In interviews, Benham told police he did not consider himself a step-father figure and rarely did anything for Alfie.

He described Alfie as a ‘mummy’s boy’ and admitted he did not like him. But during the trial he claimed he treated the toddler like ‘one of my own’.

Jurors reached a unanimous guilty verdict for the murder of little Alfie following deliberations that took nearly ten hours, that began on Tuesday afternoon.

Prosecutor Jennifer Knight KC had told jurors: ‘It is clear that he had been deliberately injured on more than one occasion, culminating in an assault perpetrated on him during the night of 27 to 28 November 2020 that led to his death.’

She added: ‘Jack Benham and Sian Hedges were in the caravan together throughout the night.

‘Had either defendant not been joining in with the assaults, that defendant who was not part of it would have stopped the attack and removed Alfie Phillips from the caravan, and from the presence of the other who was carrying out these attacks.

‘The fact that this did not happen can only be because both defendants agreed that the assaults should take place…they both agreed in meting out some sort of aggressive, violent discipline to Alfie that night which resulted in his death.’

Speaking after the verdicts were announced, Alfie’s family told of the anguish of having to endure a three-year wait for justice, with many questions still unanswered.

They said: ‘We have had to listen to the horrific details of what Sian and Jack did to Alfie, how they assaulted him again and again.

‘He suffered so much pain. In these years, we have not had the closure, and even after the trial we feel that we still deserve answers.

‘The only people with these answers are Sian and Jack but they have refused to say what happened to him.

‘Still to this day, they have refused to take responsibility.

‘They have never shown any remorse for what they did, and we will never know the truth about what happened to Alfie.

‘Alfie was so cruelly taken from us that day. Every day we are hurting. Our shining light, that shone so bright, will always be in our hearts.

‘We have such special memories of our short time with Alfie and these memories keep us going on the darkest of days.’

Alfie was described as ‘good as gold’ and ‘lively’ by his father, Sam Phillips, adding there was ‘never a dull moment’ with the toddler, who he said was always playing and laughing.

Benham, of Hernhill, Kent, and Hedges, of Yelverton, Devon, will be sentenced on December 19.

Reacting to the verdict, Kent Police’s senior investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Kath Way, said: ‘Today’s verdict will not bring Alfie back, but it does mean that Hedges and Benham lose their right to freedom and life as they know it.

‘Alfie should have been protected and loved by his mum, instead Hedges and Benham inflicted unimaginable suffering on him during a sustained and lengthy night of violence.’

She added that the pair refused to admit what they had done and instead subjected Alfie’s family to a trial where details of ‘horrendous abuse’ were detailed.

‘Alfie would have been four now and would have recently started school. Instead, his life was cruelly taken away by those he should have been able to trust the most.’

An NSPCC spokesman also commenting on the ‘heart-breaking’ case said the cruelty inflicted on Alfie is ‘devastating’.

They added: ‘We know that very young children are particularly vulnerable to abuse because they are completely reliant on the adults around them for care and protection.

‘It is so important that anyone who is worried about a child’s safety speaks out about their concerns. People can contact the local authority, the police or the NSPCC Helpline.’

The shaman fiancée of Princess Martha Louise of Norway has been criticized for saying suicidal people are ‘possessed by evil spirits’.

The US-born bisexual celebrity healer shared a video on Instagram about the ‘suicide spirit’ in shamanism.

Durek, who counts Gwyneth Paltrow among his fans, added that children with tantrums are also “possessed by ‘entities.’

“When it comes to your children and they are acting out, yelling and being aggressive for no reason, entities can enter your children,” he said.

The only daughter of King Harald and Queen Sonja, Martha Louise, 52, is fourth in line to the throne. She stepped down as a working royal in 2019.

Martha, a self-proclaimed clairvoyant who claims she can talk to angels, revealed in 2022 that she would not represent the royal family.

He added: “So the way to prevent this is to look your child straight in the eye, no matter how uncomfortable it makes him, and say, ‘You have no power here, you are a weak entity and I am sending you now in the light, deep in the light.”

And about suicidal people, Durek said: “In shamanism we believe that there is a suicidal spirit – a spirit that enters your consciousness and plays on your emotions with the burdens that you feel, that other people suffer because you are alive. , because of the things you think you can’t overcome, because of the pain of any situation or because of something you’ve done that you can’t forgive yourself for.

The comments were met with outrage, with many angry that Martha Louise’s first husband, Ari Behn, died by suicide.

Ari is the father of Martha Louise’s three children: Maud, 19, Leah, 17, and Emma, ​​14.

One person commented: ‘Aha! A suicidal spirit. Let me tell my two children who lost their father to suicide this year. I bet they’ll be impressed.

‘Of course the real problem, like Norway’s mental health system (or lack thereof), is not to blame. The suicidal spirit is. Right.’

While another wrote: ‘You should be ashamed! I lost my daughter to suicide, and your stepdaughters lost their father.

‘I am angry about the fact that you are going to become a member of the Norwegian royal family. You should be ashamed!’

People were also quick to condemn his views on “entities” invading children.

“Horrible how you demonize the completely normal emotions and behavior of children,” said one. “Telling them they have no power is terrible and insulting. Unfollow.’

While another said: ‘This would absolutely traumatise a child who only has big feelings.’

Durek and Martha got engaged in 2022 and King Harald said his daughter would not be allowed to use her royal title in any future commercial partnerships with its partner.

The princess, who describes herself as ‘spiritual’ and claims to be a clairvoyant, spoke to the BBC and admitted that stepping back from her royal duties had been a process fraught with ‘turmoil’.

After Martha Louise’s decision to abdicate, King Harald emphasized that his daughter remained a princess at his request. He said, ‘She is our daughter, and she will remain so. So she is Princess Märtha Louise.’

Shortly after mother-of-three Martha announced her engagement to Durek, a publisher in Norweigan dropped his book ‘Spirit Hacking’ due to pseudoscientific claims, including ‘children can get cancer if they are unhappy’.

Among his other claims, Durek says he once rose from the dead, recovering from a month-long coma, by “burning” his soul, and has also spoken about needing a kidney transplant from his sister as a child undergo.

It’s unclear why he needed the kidney or how he became wheelchair-bound as he has described. The illness that left him in a coma has also not been disclosed.

The groom-to-be, born Durek Verrett in Sacramento in November 1974, claims that he first became “aware” of his shamanic abilities at the age of five, but did not begin training until the age of eleven.

He adds that he is a “sixth generation healer.”

His father, David, was an engineer of African-Haitian descent; his mother, Veruschka, Indian-Norwegian. His aunt Shirley was a famous opera singer, an African-American mezzo-soprano. He calls on deceased relatives – his father, his aunt and his grandmother – to help him during healing sessions.