Lola James trial: Jury retires to make decision on mum and partner

Bevan, 31, of Aberystwyth, denies a charge of murder, while Sinead James, 30, of Neyland, denies causing or allowing the death of her two-year-old daughter.

The Honourable Mr Justice Griffiths told the jury that on the evening of July 16, 2020, James went to bed leaving Lola and her older sister with Bevan.

James was woken up at around midnight after hearing a bang and a scream from Lola’s room, and went to check. From the doorway, she saw Bevan cuddling Lola and he told her he’d got this. Upon going back to bed, James had “no concerns” about Lola, and no injuries were visible on her face.

Sinead James said she 'never in a million years' thought her children were in danger. (Image: Athena Picture Agency)

Photos were found on Bevan’s phone from 4.26am on July 17 of a mark on Lola’s back.

At 6.32am, Bevan searched ‘My two-year-old child has just taken a bang to the head and has gone all limp and snoring’ on his phone.

The jury heard he messaged his mum, Alison Bevan, and sent her pictures and a video of Lola. His mum replied at 6.56am telling Bevan to wake James up and take Lola to hospital.

By 7.28am, James had been woken up, and both Alison Bevan and James called 999 in the minutes around 7.30am.

Lola was initially taken to Withybush, but was then transferred to University Hospital Wales in Cardiff.  

When they returned home, Judge Griffiths said Bevan “initially obstructed” the police when they arrived shortly afterwards.

The jury heard that Bevan messaged James when she had left for the hospital in Cardiff – where Lola had been transferred – asking what she was going to tell the police.

James was arrested at University Hospital of Wales that afternoon, while Bevan was arrested at their neighbour’s home shortly afterwards.

Lola died in hospital on July 21.

Lola James was two years old at the time of her death. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

Police found a grey onesie had been hidden and was “smelling of vomit”, and a blanket was found on Lola’s bed with what appeared to be vomit and urine stains on it.

The court heard that after the incident where Bevan “grabbed” James, she messaged his mum “I’m not putting up with this. I have the kids to think about”.

Alison Bevan said she thinks her son messaged her instead of calling an ambulance as she had been “fixing everything for that boy” from an early age. She also described her son as “thick”.

Coral Barker, who previously owned the American Bulldog Jessie, said it never showed any signs of aggression before and had never knocked over any of her young children.

Casey Morgan, a friend of James, said she didn’t want Bevan in her house with her children there.

She gave evidence of an incident where James and her children came over after Bevan had taken Xanax and “smashed the house up” with a hammer, and another where she said Bevan “pushed [James’ youngest child] into the road” in her pram after shouting “f*** it”.

Kyle Bevan denies murdering Lola James. (Image: Facebook)

Morgan and her mum, Elfair Morgan, gave evidence about an injury Lola suffered, where Bevan claimed she had been knocked off the sofa by the dog and hit her face on the coffee table. They said Bevan initially told them they had spoken to a doctor, but then said they didn’t need to go to the doctors.

James’ mum, Nicola described Bevan as “disrespectful and angry and would say weird things” and that he “acted like a big hard man which he was not”, However, she said she had never seen him be aggressive or violent to James or the children.

Linda Hughes, James’ aunt, went to the park with James and the two older children on July 16, and said Lola had “no marks or bruises” at that time.

She said she felt “intimidated” by Bevan on July 17, when she commented on the state of the house, and he told her: “Don’t you f****** come in here after what I’ve just gone through”.

Neighbour Tracey Taylor told police Bevan told her he had “splashed water on her face to try to wake her up”, and had said “Why did I wait half an hour? Why didn’t I phone an ambulance? Why didn’t I wake Sinead up?”.

Wendy Rodriguez, from Pembrokeshire’s childcare assessment team, said James was offered domestic violence support in 2014 and completed the Freedom Programme in 2016. She was put back on the Freedom Programme in January 2020.

Sinead James denies causing or allowing her daughter's death. (Image: Facebook)

The jury heard that James had told the health visitor she had a female friend staying with her, and made no mention of Bevan. Ms Rodriguez said James was warned against inviting adults into the home if she didn’t know them or they misused alcohol or drugs.

Dr Nicola Drake, from Withybush Hospital, said she felt “intimidated” by Bevan after he got angry when she said she would be passing James' and Bevan's accounts of what happened onto third parties, including social services.

Dr Nia John, from Noah’s Ark Children's Hospital, said Lola had sustained 101 injuries or groups of injuries, and concluded that these pointed to them being “not accidental”.

The jury heard CT scans on July 18 showed Lola’s brain injuries were getting worse, and on July 21 she showed signs of “brain death”. Later that day she stopped breathing, and her death was confirmed at 4.35pm.

Medical experts had given evidence that Lola’s brain injuries were consistent with “abusive head trauma”, which was usually seen in instances of “forceful shaking” and “some form of impact”.

One doctor said Lola’s body was “the most extensively bruised and battered” one that she had ever seen.

Forensic pathologist Dr Stephen Leadbeatter said he did not consider the account given as to how Lola was injured was complete, and that he “could not accept that all the injuries came from a fall down the stairs”.

Dr Deborah Stalker said Lola had suffered “catastrophic brain injuries” that were “not explained by a fall down the stairs”, but were “typically linked to physical abuse”.

She said that although it was normal for toddlers to pick up bruises from falling over, around 14 bruises would be an “outlier”, and Lola’s 101 injuries went far beyond that.

The jury has now retired and will return once a verdict has been reached.