The mother of a man accused of murdering a toddler in a caravan has told a court how she desperately tried to save the young boy’s life.

Joan Benham has relived the moment she performed CPR on 18-month-old Alfie Phillips, who prosecutors allege was subjected to a sustained and fatal assault in Hernhill, near Faversham, in November 2020.

Post-mortem examinations revealed the youngster had 70 visible injuries, multiple broken bones and potential signs of smothering to his mouth and lips.

Mrs Benham’s son, Jack Benham, is on trial alongside Alfie’s mother, Sian Hedges, with the then-couple alleged to have killed the boy in an “aggressive, violent” show of discipline.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court was told Hedges had recently split from Alfie's father, Sam Phillips, and was living with her son and new boyfriend in the back garden of Benham’s parents’ home in Hernhill.

On the evening of Friday, November 27, 2020, she and Benham were in his parents’ house with Alfie, where the toddler was said to have been looking well and without visible injuries by several of Benham’s relatives.

The youngster was taken back to the caravan at 7pm and was not seen again by anyone other than Benham, 35, and Hedges, 27, until about 11.30am the following morning.

It was during these hours it is alleged Alfie was murdered.

Mrs Benham today told the court that on the morning of Saturday, November 28, she looked out of the window of her home and saw her son carrying Alfie.

"Sian was in her pyjamas, which was unusual,” she said.

“Jack was carrying Alfie in his arms, close to his chest. I said ‘how's the little one, is he OK?’. Sian said ‘no, he's not OK’."

Mrs Benham, who works in nursery care, said Hedges said the toddler was not breathing, so they placed him on a rug inside her living room.

She told the jury she noticed Alfie had a bruise on his face which she had not seen the previous evening.

"I saw Alfie's face with marks. They looked like blood marks under the skin but I saw no blood. They didn't look like a normal bruise,” she said.

Mrs Benham said the little boy was still warm but noticed one of his arms was raised.

Her husband then dialled 999 as she began performing CPR, holding Alfie’s nose as she breathed into his lungs.

She said at one point she thought Alfie had started breathing, but was not certain.

"This seemed to go on forever, but I think the CPR lasted about 11 minutes,” she said.

Mrs Benham said her son told her Alfie had woken up at 7am that morning and had gone back to sleep after being given a bottle.

She said Benham told her that when he woke again Alfie was under his legs.

"Jack told me 'he was under my leg, his arms were under my leg’ and I remember thinking was that the reason his arm was up,” Mrs Benham said.

Mrs Benham told the jury that after paramedics arrived, Hedges was “hysterical” and crying out: “What are they doing to my baby – what are they doing?”

The young boy was taken to Margate’s QEQM Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12.35pm that day.

The jury was told Hedges and Benham were arrested later that evening and interviewed over the course of two days.

Tests showed both had used cocaine the night before, with the pair admitting to also drinking whisky and coke, and Benham to smoking cannabis.

Mrs Benham told the court today she knew her son was a cannabis user but was not aware of any other drugs. She was also aware the couple had been drinking alcohol.

She said Benham told her Hedges was a “private” and “shy” person who had moved into her son’s caravan following the breakdown of her relationship with Alfie’s father.

"Jack would bring Alfie over [to the house] and I would see them playing in the garden," she said. “Alfie liked to play with our dogs."

"[Alfie] was boisterous and it was nice to see him. Jack would always be playing with him. He really loved him. Alfie in return loved him and would play with him.

“I never had any concerns about him. I never saw anything to be worried about.”

In police interviews, Benham said he did not consider himself a step-father figure and rarely did anything for Alfie.

He described Alfie as a “mummy’s boy” and admitted he did not like him, the jury was told.

Following Alfie’s death, a skeletal survey and post-mortem examinations revealed he had multiple fractures to both of his arms, his ribs and one leg, as well as widespread bruising, marks and scrapes across his body.

Tests indicated many of the breaks to his bones would have occurred in the hours before his death.

An internal examination also revealed bruising to the inside of Alfie’s lips, which the pathologist said suggested smothering or an attempt at smothering, with scrapes to his nose and mouth potentially explained by Alfie trying to remove a compressive force from his face.

Another specialist said multiple haemorrhages to Alfie’s eye muscles and soft tissue damage were “highly consistent with direct blunt force trauma”.

The prosecution said, having considered the reports of her fellow experts, forensic pathologist Dr Virginia Fitzpatrick-Swallow expressed no doubt that Alfie “came upon his death by unnatural means as a result of the action of another/others”.

But while certain someone was responsible for Alfie’s death, the pathologist could not determine the final cause due to the numerous injuries that could have led to it.

Prosecutor Jennifer Knight told the jury: “It is clear that Alfie Phillips was deliberately injured on more than one occasion, culminating in an assault perpetrated during the night of November 27 to 28 that led to his death.

“Had either defendant not been joining in with the assaults, he or she would have stopped the attack and removed Alfie Phillips from the caravan.

“The fact that this did not happen can only be because both defendants agreed that the assaults should take place and each played their part.

“They were both agreed in meting out aggressive, violent ‘discipline’ to Alfie Phillips, which resulted in his death that night.”

Neither of the defendants could account for Alfie’s injuries, but both recalled occasions when he had fallen and hurt himself.

Benham, of Highstreet Road, Hernhill, and Hedges, of Yelverton, Devon, deny murder and an alternative charge of causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.