They Turned on Each Other Incredibly Fast- The Story of Alfie Phillips

They Turned on Each Other Incredibly Fast- The Story of Alfie Phillips

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. The pain and fear that he must have suffered is almost unimaginable.

Welcome or welcome back, I’m Cassie, and this is A Wicked World. The story I have for you today is about a little boy who was put in harm’s way when his selfish and neglectful mother wanted the best of both worlds and put her love life in front of her son. This is the story of Alfie Phillips.

Alfie Phillips was born on May 26, 2019, to his mother, Shawn Hedges, and his father, Sam Phillips, and they lived near Kent, England, together. He was a happy little boy who loved playing outside and going to the beach. Alfie was said to be lively, and he was always playing and laughing. There was said to never be a dull moment when Alfie was around, and he melted the hearts of everyone he met.

Alfie’s parents, Shawn and Sam, had met in 2017, shortly before Shawn’s 21st birthday, while she had been working at Park Holidays in Swalecliffe, which is a mobile home park. Alfie’s dad Sam, who already had a child, was living in the park at Swalecliffe in a mobile home that his mother had bought for him. By the end of 2017, Shawn would move in with him as well, and shortly after, she would become pregnant with Alfie.

The pair had been inseparable, but that would quickly deteriorate when Shawn’s mother moved away and Shawn fell into a deep depression as well as developed a cocaine habit. The couple’s relationship was very up and down, and fights would break out between the two, so it wasn’t very long until they were asked to move off of the land due to disturbance calls.

After that, Sam’s mother bought them another motor home at Benacre Riding Stables near Whitstable, where they moved in 2018. At the point that Shawn had found out she was pregnant with Alfie, she had considered getting an abortion, even making several appointments. However, she would end up canceling all of these and not going through with it.

Still unsure if she was going to keep her baby or not, she deemed it okay to continue using cocaine in her early pregnancy. Since she had abandoned the idea of abortion, Shawn began considering adoption in her later stages of pregnancy. However, once Alfie was born, the mother fell in love with her newborn and decided she wanted to keep him.

By the time that COVID lockdown came around in March of 2020, Shawn and Sam’s relationship had become very volatile. Shawn’s depression and anxiety were affecting her more and more; most days she couldn’t even leave the house to get simple things like milk and diapers. On top of that, she began taking more anti-depressants and using more cocaine.

In the summer of 2020, Shawn would meet a man named Jack Benham, who was a former soldier. The two had met at a friend’s house while they were both picking up drugs, and Shawn fell for Jack almost immediately. He was kind to her and he made her feel good about herself. Shawn would even say that Jack liked Alfie too.

This would soon lead to Shawn wanting to leave Sam for Jack, however she would end up deciding to start seeing both of them at the same time instead. In September of 2020, Shawn and Sam had a huge fight. This had occurred when Sam had confronted Shawn about his suspicions that she was seeing another man.

After that, Shawn would begin staying with Jack more often, bringing Alfie along with her, and she would tell Sam that she was either at her grandmother’s house or at her father’s house. So although Shawn had occasionally been staying with Sam, she would always take off again, bringing Alfie with her back to Jack’s home.

While with Jack, Shawn would go on drug binges with her new lover, but she would always make her way back to Sam because, as she put it, it was like he had a spell over her. Shawn’s boyfriend, Jack Benham, lived in a mobile home at the back of his parents’ home on High Street Road in Hearn Hill.

Here he had his own space, but he would cook as well as do laundry inside his parents’ home. Jack also had children; he had two daughters, however he didn’t see them very often as he didn’t have custody.

Almost as soon as Shawn had begun living at Jack’s home on a more full-time basis—as many as five to six nights each week—Alfie’s father Sam began to get concerned about his son. Every time he was coming back home with Shawn, he looked tired and pasty.

Then on September 23, 2020, Shawn would bring Alfie to the hospital with a cut under his eye that doctors would have to glue shut. Jack and Shawn told medical staff that Alfie had been playing with a set of car house keys and he had cut himself under the eye accidentally. However, the pair gave Alfie’s father Sam a different story; they told him that Alfie had just fallen down while he was at the beach with them one day.

In the same month, Shawn would pack up all her belongings and go to live with Jack, but she would still say that she wanted her relationship with Alfie’s father Sam to work, and she would occasionally go back and visit him. Most of the time, however, Shawn and Alfie were staying in Jack’s mobile home.

Only weeks after they had moved in, Alfie’s grandmother (Sam’s mother) noticed that he had a bruise which was located on his ear, and it was unusually dark-colored. She said it looked as if someone had twisted Alfie’s ear. Shawn, of course, would just blame it on her son being clumsy. I’m not sure how you could obtain that from being clumsy; how would you directly hit your ear on something to bruise it that bad?

At around the same time, Jack’s mother would notice a bruise on Alfie. It was a bruise that ran in a straight line on his eye, however Jack brushed it off, saying that their dog Belle had accidentally tripped Alfie and he had fallen into a door frame.

On November 27, Shawn and Jack would take off to buy some drugs from friends as well as repay Shawn’s £400 debt, though Shawn would later tell police that she had not bought any drugs, even though Jack was insistent that they did. That night, the couple also grabbed some alcohol and drinks for their night together.

While the couple was running these errands, Alfie was staying with Jack’s mother and father. During that time, Jack’s sister would actually come over, and her daughter would play with Alfie for about 45 minutes to an hour. Upon their return, Jack and Shawn said that they brought Alfie back to his mobile home around 8:00 or 8:30 p.m.

The pair would say they then had a normal night, which consisted of drinking, chatting, and watching YouTube videos. After that, they had gone to bed in the same bed that they shared with Alfie, because Alfie didn’t have a crib of any sort at Jack’s place.

The next morning, close to 11:30, Shawn and Jack would wake up, and when they did, Alfie was underneath Jack’s leg and he was not responding. Upon realizing this, Jack carried Alfie into his parents’ home. He was floppy, blue, and not breathing. Jack’s mother, Joan Benham, began performing CPR on Alfie in the living room while Jack’s father, Mark Benham, called 999.

While performing CPR, Joan said that she noticed a number of bruises on Alfie’s face that had not been there the night before. Paramedics arrived within 10 minutes of the 999 call, but when they got there, it was apparent that Alfie had died hours prior. He would be taken to the QEQM Hospital in Margate, where he would be pronounced dead at 12:35 p.m.

When the paramedics had arrived at Jack’s mobile home, he told them that Alfie had been grumpy the night before, and then when they had woken up, Alfie had just been trapped underneath his leg, and he believes he probably suffocated him. But Shawn’s playing dumb didn’t work, and her and Jack were both arrested on November 28 and they would be questioned over the course of the next two days.

“So you’ve picked Alfie up…”
“Stra… the house, stra… the house.”
“You said you, um, you tried to raise him by biting him, whereabouts did you bite him?”
“I was holding him like this, I would have been somewhere around there, just was… I was just screaming in his head, yeah, I’d never been like that before so I don’t, you know, I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Alfie’s postmortem examination, however, revealed that he had over 70 visible injuries, multiple broken bones, and a potential sign of smothering. Traces of cocaine were also found in his body. Tests would show that both Shawn and Jack had used cocaine on the night prior to Alfie’s death.

Shawn admitted that she had taken a £40 bag or about $50 worth of cocaine over the course of 3 hours, but she insisted it was only after Alfie went to bed. I’m sure she and Jack had also drunk whiskey and coke, and she told police that they had their last drink around 1:00 in the morning and then had gone to bed in the bed they shared with Alfie.

Around 6:30 in the morning, Shawn had been woken up by one of Jack’s father’s pugs running into the mobile home. She had gotten up to put the dog back outside, and at that time she noticed Alfie stir, but he had his dummy in his mouth, and she said he seemed normal and everything was fine at that time.

Shawn then recalled Jack waking her up a few hours later due to him yelling, “What the fuck is wrong with him? Oh my god, he’s under my leg!” Alfie was floppy and his lips were blue. Shawn knew immediately that he was gone.

Upon further questioning, Shawn of course denied inflicting any of the injuries on her son herself, and she said that she never left her son Alfie alone with Jack for more than 10 minutes at a time, and Shawn said she had no idea how Alfie had gotten any of his injuries.

When Jack was interviewed by police, he told them that he did not consider himself to be like a stepfather to Alfie, and he rarely did anything for the little boy. He also admitted to police that he didn’t really like Alfie and he was just a mummy’s boy (“I mean, he’s a baby, so yeah, probably a mummy’s boy”).

Jack’s story was that Alfie had been cranky the night before and they had put him to bed between 7:00 and 8:30. After that, he and Shawn had drank some whiskey and coke and smoked some marijuana. Jack claimed that they had gotten drunk that night, but not too drunk.

He also said that he remembered his father’s pug running into his mobile home and jumping up on the bed, but he told police that at that time he did not know if Alfie was alive or not. Jack said that when he had woken up hours later, Alfie was by his knee and he had had his little arm underneath Jack’s leg.

He said Alfie was floppy, so he tried to pat the back of his head to wake him up—so he hit him in the back of the head, is what he’s saying. He would also later tell police that he bit Alfie and shook him to try to get him to respond. No, that’s how you killed him, that’s not how you get him to respond! Again, clearly though, none of this worked.

Jack believed he had accidentally suffocated Alfie and that’s all that had happened. When in the interrogation room Jack was shown pictures of Alfie’s injuries, he denied knowing how any of them had come about. Jack would also tell investigators that he always lifted up Alfie by either his hands or his wrists instead of underneath his arms like you should pick up a child of that age.

Throughout his interviews, Jack repeatedly said that he would deserve the worst if he had anything to do with any of Alfie’s injuries, and he also knew that Shawn would never hurt her little boy.

Both Shawn and Jack were charged with murder, and in September of 2023, they would go to trial, which would last an entire nine weeks. Both Shawn and Jack denied any part in hurting Alfie the night of November 27, 2020, and they began to turn on each other in court (don’t they always?).

The prosecution told the jury that Alfie had died with over 70 visible injuries to his body, including human bite marks, and he had many more internal injuries. It was clear that Alfie had been deliberately hurt on one or more occasions prior to his death, which had then culminated into a horrific and brutal attack on the night of November 27.

During the trial, the court also heard how Jack’s mobile home was completely untidy and it contained no crib or essential items needed to care for a young child. When investigators had examined the crime scene, blood had been found on Alfie’s sleepsuit and bedding, which was later confirmed through DNA analysis to be his own.

Jack’s sister Bobby would testify in court, and she said that she had gone over to her parents’ house on the night of Friday, November 27, around 5:00 p.m., and when she had gotten there, everybody had gone inside and ordered Chinese food. She also said that her daughter played with Alfie for about 45 minutes.

Bobby said she noticed that Alfie’s cheeks had been rather rosy at the time, but she figured it was just because he was teething. Other than that, she said he was running around happy and she spotted no visible injuries; in fact, nothing seemed off to her at that point, and a photo taken of Alfie that night would corroborate her statement.

In the early morning hours of November 28, Jack’s father said that he had seen Shawn pulling back into the driveway in her car between 2:15 and 2:30 in the morning. When he had asked her where she had been, she told him that she just went to get some food, however she would later tell police that she had actually gone to buy drugs, but never did—even though Jack had been insisting that she did. She went all the way out to buy drugs, didn’t buy them, and then came back home. Likely story!

The court was told that shortly before 11:30 in the morning on November 28, Jack had taken Alfie’s lifeless body and walked into his parents’ house. There, he had yelled to his mother, Joan Benham, then recalled her son pleading, saying, “Mom, do something, he’s not breathing! Mom, please do something!”

Footage was also shown in court which depicted Shawn being first questioned by police after she was arrested. The footage also shows the arrest of Jack, who officers say was agitated and shocked that he was being arrested.

Medical expert Dr. Fitzpatrick-Swallow testified in court and said that she had no doubt that Alfie had come about his death by unnatural and cruel means. She also said that there were signs that many of Alfie’s bone fractures had occurred just hours prior to his death, and that many had been caused by some sort of crushing nature. While the medical examiner was certain that somebody was responsible for Alfie’s death, she could not determine his final cause of death because of how many injuries he had that could have led to it.

The court also heard about injuries that Alfie had gotten in the months prior to his death, as well as the explanations that Shawn and Jack had given, such as the cut under his eye that had been caused by the car keys, and when he had injured his fingers, it was just because he had caught them in a pet gate at Jack’s parents’ home.

In one incident, Shawn had arrived back home and she found blood on the carpet, on a cot, and on a tissue. Jack told her it was because Alfie had just fallen down and hit his mouth on the oil heater. Another time, Jack described to Shawn how he had been holding Alfie above his head when suddenly he slipped and Alfie’s nose got hit on Jack’s teeth. Shawn said that she wasn’t there, so she just accepted that explanation.

There were also text messages presented in court that the couple had sent to each other in the weeks prior to the toddler’s death. In one that Jack said was just a joke, he texted Shawn saying that she should bite the little boy, but not too hard, after she had messaged him saying, “Little shit bit my arm this morning, fucking hurts.”

Shawn had then replied back to Jack saying that she had already tried to bite Alfie, but he just found it to be funny. Jack wrote back to her, “Bite hard, I bet you have to.” One time, surprisingly, Shawn said no and didn’t.

In text messages sent on October 22, Jack said that Alfie was being a quote “little sod” and he had turned off the mobile home heater, so Jack was going to poke him in the ear for it.

When it was Shawn’s turn to give evidence in court, she said that the day Alfie had died, her world had come crashing down, and oftentimes she now wanted to die herself. She claimed that at the time she believed Alfie’s death was just an accident. When the prosecution asked Shawn if Jack had killed her son in the 40-minute window where she had gone out to attempt to buy drugs, she said yes, he must have, because I didn’t do it. Shawn then insisted that had she seen Jack hurt Alfie, she would not cover for him, but she had seen nothing.

When it was his turn to give evidence, Jack was shown graphic images of Alfie’s injuries and he was asked to explain how they had come about. He said, “They are horrific, but 100% I did not hurt him.” The prosecution then came back with a question for Jack: they said that if he and Shawn were the only ones in the home that night and he hadn’t done it, was he then saying that Shawn had killed her son? To which he replied yes, but then added that he had previously thought she was a great mom and never thought she would hurt her child.

Jack claimed that Shawn must have attacked Alfie while he was sleeping between 5:00 and 11:00 a.m. But Alfie’s injuries would have caused immense pain, and he would have been crying and screaming—there’s no way in that small mobile home that Jack could have slept through that, no matter what he said!

As the trial finally came to an end after nine weeks, the jury reached a unanimous guilty verdict in the murder of Alfie. This was after 10 hours of deliberations. Alfie’s family spoke after the trial and told of the anguish and pain of having to endure a three-year wait for justice and having to hear all the details of what happened to Alfie all over again.

Alfie’s family also spoke about how they still have so many unanswered questions, but they don’t think they will ever get the answers to these questions because Shawn and Jack are the only ones who would know the answers, but they won’t tell. On top of that, Alfie’s family claims that Shawn and Jack have shown zero remorse.

“After today, we finally got what we deserved for that little boy. The outcome could have been a little bit better… 23 years and 19 years… we’ve got the justice in our hearts finally, after three years, and we’re all pleased. Justice has finally… justice has been done. They thought they were going to get away with it, I think… but no. Like I said, nothing’s going to bring Alfie back, but we can sleep now knowing that they’re not coming out of prison now for a very, very, very long time. We can move on.”

Jack Benham and Shawn Hedges were to be sentenced in December of 2023. When that time came around, the judge would say to Shawn:

“You, Shawn Hedges, were until the night of his death a loving mother to Alfie. You had no history of abusing or mistreating him, and Alfie was generally well cared for. But alongside that, you put your own interests first. You had the opportunity to provide Alfie with a stable home with your mother in Devon, but instead you took him with you whilst you moved between your two partners on an almost daily basis. You took cocaine regularly and did so in front of Alfie; indeed, traces of cocaine from secondary transfer were found in Alfie’s bloodstream. You spent a substantial amount of your income on drugs.”

To Jack Benham, the judge stated:

“You, Jack Benham, had recently separated from the mother of your two children. You had developed a major crack cocaine habit; indeed, it was drugs that had brought the two of you together, and most of your time in each other’s company was spent taking drugs. The medical evidence shows that Alfie suffered a number of injuries some 36 to 72 hours before his death. These consisted of a number of relatively minor rib fractures which were caused by excessive squeezing, and the fracture of a bone in his foot, almost certainly caused by someone deliberately standing on it. I am satisfied that these injuries were caused by you, Jack Benham, as a result of inappropriately rough or bad-tempered treatment of Alfie.”

“The main assaults upon Alfie took place in the caravan during the night of the 27th to 28th of November, 2020. A number of witnesses told the court that Alfie was well and in good spirits when he entered the caravan with the two of you in the early evening of the 27th of November. In the course of that night, Alfie sustained approximately 50 injuries from the assaults, pretty well all over his body. These injuries were the result of what can only be described as a frenzied attack. It is impossible to be sure how long the attack lasted, but given the number of different injuries that were inflicted on Alfie, it must have lasted a considerable time.”

“I have no doubt that at some point during the night, Alfie woke up and was crying in distress—no doubt at least in part because he was teething, but also because of the injuries that had been inflicted upon him earlier in that week. Alfie became an inconvenience and an irritation. You were both angry with him for interfering with your night’s drinking and drug-taking, and were annoyed by the noise he was making. You, Jack Benham, were frustrated that it had not been possible to obtain more drugs. You decided to teach him a lesson. The injuries were inflicted in an attempt to control, discipline, and punish this small child.”

“It is not possible for me to say with certainty which of you inflicted each of the individual injuries. However, I am sure that you, Jack Benham, took the lead and inflicted most of the injuries, including the main fractures. You are the stronger of the two, you have the worst temper, you had consumed more alcohol that night, and you were the one who was most frustrated that the drugs had run out. But you were both involved, and assisted and encouraged each other. You, Shawn Hedges, were responsible for at least one of the bites on Alfie.”

“The court was shown photographs of Alfie. He had a cheeky grin and was full of energy and life. He was into everything and interested in everything; he melted the hearts of everyone he met. It is a great tragedy that Alfie did not have the chance to grow up and to 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.”

Both Shawn and Jack were then sentenced to life. Shawn must serve at least 19 years before she’s considered for release, and Jack must serve at least 23 years. By then, Shawn would be 48 and Jack would be 58.

Alfie’s dad Sam would speak at the sentencing hearing, and he told the court how he had not been able to see his son on November 28 because Shawn had told medical staff and police that he was not involved in Alfie’s life. Sam said:

“Shawn’s heartless lies stopped me from being able to say goodbye. I never got to hear my son’s first words, I never got to have a conversation with him. I was robbed.”

Alfie’s father also said that he had no suspicions in the days leading to Alfie’s death, as he was just being his happy, normal self. The heartbroken father also said of his son:

“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; 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—memories of how cheeky he would be.”

Well, thank you for listening to all of Alfie’s story today. To me, it sounds like Alfie was simply an afterthought to Shawn. Sure, she brought him with her when she went to Jack’s, but she was ignoring him to get high. She had no bed, or clothes, or anything for that matter at Jack’s house for Alfie. And on top of that, Jack didn’t even like the little boy. But that didn’t matter to Shawn, because she wanted what she wanted, even if that meant putting Alfie in a dangerous situation.