A mother whose three-year-old son was crushed to death by a car seat has been jailed at the Old Bailey after being convicted of child cruelty.

Adrian Hoare, 24, was sentenced to two years and nine months after the death of her son Alfie Lamb.

He died in hospital three days after suffering catastrophic brain damage when Hoare's partner Stephen Waterson allegedly crushed him in the footwell of his Audi in February 2018.

Waterson and Hoare, a former Northfleet School for Girls pupil, who has lived in Gravesend and Chatham, were returning from a shopping trip with Alfie and friends Marcus Lamb and Emilie Williams before the incident.

Waterson, the adopted son of former government minister Nigel Waterson, faces a retrial in September after the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the manslaughter charge facing him.

He was found guilty of intimidating a witness, having previously admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after he lied to police about the incident.

Hoare was convicted of child cruelty but cleared of manslaughter.

CCTV shows the last hours of Alfie Lamb's life

Alfie died of “crush asphyxia” after being hit by the seat which at peak would have exerted more than 12-and-a-half stone in pressure.

When paramedics arrived at the family home in Croydon they found Hoare, Miss Williams and Mr Lamb, who was carrying out CPR on Alfie but soon made himself scarce.

Waterson and Hoare, both now of Adams Way, Croydon, admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice by making false witness statements to the police in the wake of the death.

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