Son of former Tory minister 'crushed toddler Alfie Lamb to death because he didn't want to be told what to do by a three-year-old'

The son of a former Conservative minister crushed toddler Alfie Lamb with his car seat after insisting he “wasn’t being told what to do by a three-year-old”, a court heard today.

Stephen Waterson, 25, is accused of killing the youngster during a journey in his Audi convertible, allegedly pushing the electric car seat backwards to give himself more leg room.

Alfie’s mother, 23-year-old Adrian Hoare, told the Old Bailey today she did not realise Alfie was in serious danger but said she had pleaded with Waterson to give her son more room.

She said Waterson had shouted at Alfie for crying as he sat in the backseat footwell between Hoare’s legs, and then pushed his seat back as “he didn’t have room for his legs”.

“He made another comment, something like he wasn’t being told what to do by a three-year-old, because we had asked for the chair to be moved and he moved his chair back again”, she said.

“Alfie didn’t like the chair going back on him so he got annoyed at it. He had calmed down but he started crying again because the chair came back again.

“I asked Stephen to move the chair forwards again, I asked him a few times, and he hadn’t answered me.”

Waterson, the adopted sAlfie’s mother, 23-year-old Adrian Hoareon of former MP Nigel Waterson who was a junior minister in John Major’s government, is on trial alongside Hoare accused of Alfie’s manslaughter.

Hoare told the court Alfie had been “tired” before the car journey from Sutton to Croydon last February 1.

But she said she did not appreciate that he was in peril and struggling to breathe during the car ride, telling the court if she had “I would have done anything I could have to get him out of there.”

Hoare, who has told jurors she was scared of Waterson, added: “I didn’t think there was a way that I could move the chair.”

She said the group “panicked” when they realised Alfie was not breathing, and Hoare said she had not realised Waterson left the scene when they were waiting for the paramedics.

Hoare said Waterson later told her to say that “he hadn’t been there and that we got a taxi there”, telling the court: “At the time I didn’t think of why that mattered.

“Him saying he hadn’t been there, I didn’t really think of why he would want to have not been there.”

Hoare, who works as a hairdresser, and Waterson, both from Croydon, south London, deny manslaughter.

Hoare also denies child cruelty and common assault, and Waterson denies a charge of witness intimidation.

The trial continues.