Man who crushed girlfriend’s son with car seat jailed for more than seven years

A “manipulative” man who crushed his girlfriend’s son with a car seat has been jailed for more than seven years.

Alfie Lamb died in 2018 after Stephen Waterson moved back his electric car seat, as the toddler sat at his mother’s feet behind him.

Waterson, the son of a former government minister, pleaded guilty on the day of his retrial to manslaughter by gross negligence after a prior jury failed to reach a verdict on his culpability.

He was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison on Thursday.

Alfie’s death was the first time anyone in the UK has died from crush asphyxiation as a result of an electric car seat, police said.

Waterson, 26, reversed the seat of his Audi convertible, and squashed the three-year-old in the footwell behind him during a journey home from a shopping trip on 1 February last year.

Waterson, described by police as being “arrogant, selfish and deeply unpleasant”, then lied to police about what happened and threatened his girlfriend and two friends who were also in the car.

Following a trial, Alfie’s mother, Adrian Hoare, 24, from Gravesend in Kent, was jailed for two years and nine months for child cruelty.

Ahead of his own retrial at the Old Bailey, Waterson admitted manslaughter by gross negligence. Mr Justice Kerr sentenced Waterson to five years and six months for the manslaughter.

The judge said: “I do not find you were annoyed with Alfie and moved your seat back because of that annoyance.” But he said he was satisfied he moved his car seat back twice “for your own comfort”.

He accepted character references from Waterson’s parents, who attended court, and agreed he was “not all bad”. But he added Waterson was “cunning, manipulative, threatening, and controlling”.

Mr Justice Kerr handed him further sentences of two years for intimidation and 18 months for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, to run concurrently.

Both Waterson and Hoare had admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice by lying to police.

Waterson was also convicted of intimidating witness Marcus Lamb and Hoare, and of assaulting another witness, Emilie Williams.

Pregnant barmaid Williams, 20, had admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice after being threatened and “coerced” into lying to police by Waterson.

Williams, who is due to give birth in January, was sentenced to five months’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months and 100 hours of unpaid work, to be completed after she gives birth.

In mitigation for Waterson, Tana Adkin QC told the court: “Whilst thoughtless, I have no doubt, and selfish in his behaviour on 1 February, he was not deliberately malevolent and nasty towards Alfie.”

Alfie’s aunt Ashleigh Jeffrey, who gave evidence against Waterson, told how Hoare had an “amazing bond” with her son.

In a statement read in court, she said: “Every time I saw Alfie, he was so happy. He always wanted to play and had such a bright imagination. He had the best smile and he was always smiling.

“Alfie’s death has had such a profound effect on me, my life, my health, my children, my relationship.

“When I found out that Stephen had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Alfie it was like a huge weight had been lifted but it also made it all feel so much more real. He could have avoided so much more upset in people’s lives had he just owned up in the beginning.”

Jurors in the earlier trial were shown CCTV of Alfie running to keep up with his mother moments before he was put in the car for the journey back to Croydon, south London.

The court had heard that nightclub worker Waterson became annoyed at Alfie’s crying and moved his front passenger seat into him as he sat at his mother’s feet. When Alfie continued to moan, Waterson reversed again, saying: “I won’t be told what to do by a three-year-old”, Hoare told jurors.

By the time they arrived at Waterson’s home in Croydon, the little boy had collapsed and stopped breathing. Alfie died from crush asphyxia three days later.​

Waterson’s father Nigel was first elected MP for Eastbourne in 1992 and was a junior minister in John Major’s government, but was defeated by Liberal Democrat Stephen Lloyd at the 2010 general election.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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