Mother of tragic Ryan tells of final weeks

The mother of a three-year-old boy allegedly murdered by a Wolverhampton couple told the court she never physically disciplined her son.

Amy Hancox was asked under cross examination by John Cooper QC, representing Christopher Taylor, one of the defendants: "Did you ever discipline Ryan physically?" She replied: "No."

The barrister continued: "Did you ever slap him?" Miss Hancox responded: "No."

The 21-year-old admitted to the jury making her son stand up as a punishment for being naughty, but said: "He would cry and try to sit down and I would say stand up and let me talk to you."

Frances Oldham QC, for co-defendant Kayley Boleyn, then told Miss Hancox: "She does not suggest that you ever suggested that she slap Ryan round the head and says that you never told her to make him stand up as a punishment. She makes no criticism of you in that regard at all."

Miss Hancox met Ryan's father, John Lovell, shortly before her 16th birthday, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.

She became pregnant soon afterwards and gave birth to Ryan on October 25, 2005. The couple later had another child, but separated late in 2007.

Miss Hancox told the jury: "After I split up with John he would still see the children. Sometimes it was once or twice a week, then he would miss a couple of weeks before coming once or twice a week again.

"He would come to the house, but we also met up at the park or in town. It varies but I was having only limited help from him.

"My mum could not help much because she was at college and I hardly saw my dad at all.My parents had split up. I was very much left on my own to care for the two kiddies.

"As 2008 went by I was finding it really hard to cope with the children on my own, especially by the time Ryan got to three. He could walk short distances and could say a few words like mum, dad, dinner, drinks, sweets and chocolate. He could speak one or two words together but not full sentences. He would also point at things.

"If he was thirsty he could ask for a drink. He was always cuddling my younger child and was very caring towards that child."

Miss Hancox said she first met Kayley Boleyn, then aged nine, when she was 11.

"We thought of each other as cousins and she lived with me and my mum for a year or so around the time she was 15. Then she moved off, changed her mobile number and we lost touch.

"Then I discovered she had moved into Bilston in 2008 and that she was living in Slim Avenue. I saw her in the town and started to go and see her at the flat. She also stopped at my mum's from time to time.

Miss Hancox added: "Her boyfriend was Chris Taylor. They started to come round to my house and at first Chris would wait outside but later on he would come in. We all went shopping together in Bilston.

"If Ryan fell asleep when I was at their flat I would ask if he could stay the night and I would pick him up the next morning."

"I was struggling to look after the two children and Kayley realised that. She said that she would have Ryan for a bit. He moved in with them around the beginning of December 2008. His toys and clothes were taken to Slim Avenue."

Ryan was taken to New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, on the evening of December 22, 2008, suffering from serious head injuries and displaying 54 injury marks on his body, the court heard.

Boleyn travelled with him in the ambulance and later met the boy's mother who had been called to the hospital.

Miss Hancox recalled: "She kept saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.'

"She was very upset. She was crying and physically shaking."

The court has heard that neighbour Alan Mitchell had been called to the couple's flat shortly before Ryan was taken to hospital.

Christopher Hotten QC, prosecuting, said: "He found the boy lying naked and wet on a bed. Even to his unskilled eye, it was obvious that the boy was badly bruised.

"Taylor kept saying 'what have I done? what have I done?' Mr Mitchell asked what had happened and Taylor said Ryan had fallen over getting out of the bath. Taylor picked up Ryan, sat cradling him and said: 'I am in trouble'."

Boleyn and Taylor deny murder and cruelty. Taylor also pleads not guilty to causing or allowing the death of Ryan. Boleyn admits allowing the death.

The case continues.