Nottingham - A couple who had sex as the four-year-old boy they had abused lay dying next to them were jailed yesterday. The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had 100 injuries on his body when he died - including cigarette burns to his genitalia.
William Ward (32) from Grimsby, was jailed for life at Nottingham Crown Court for the boy's murder. The youngster's mother, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to ten years in jail for manslaughter and cruelty to a child. Jailing Ward with a recommendation that he serve at least 20 years, Mr Justice Ognall told him he had made the last two months of the boy's life an "unimaginable torment".
"You inflicted upon him sustained, sadistic and perverted violence and, with brutality, you killed him."
Ward was also convicted of cruelty to a child and causing actual bodily harm. The court was told the four-year-old victim was subjected to "systematic abuse" by Ward and died in agony from peritonitis two days after being punched in the stomach. The jury was told that an ambulance was not called until the boy was very close to death.
Just hours before the alarm was raised, Ward had sex with the boy's mother on the floor of her living room - while the child lay dying on a sofa, the court was told.
Passing sentence on the boy's mother, the judge said she was "bankrupt of excuses" for what she allowed to happen to her son.