A couple have been found guilty of murdering their two-year-old grandson who suffered ‘catastrophic’ head injuries during a ‘horrifying’ assault while they were supposed to be looking after him.
Ethan Ives-Griffiths was dangerously dehydrated and described as ‘just skin and bone’ by the time he collapsed on the evening of August 14, 2021.
He was ‘targeted for abuse and subjected to casual cruelty’ by his grandparents Michael Ives, 47, and Kerry Ives, 46, at their home in Flintshire, North Wales, Mold Crown Court heard.
Ethan’s mum Shannon Ives, 28, who had also been staying there with her son, was found guilty of causing or allowing his death and of child cruelty.
Jurors were in tears as prosecutor Caroline Rees KC outlined the ‘desperately sad and sorry state’ the toddler was in by the time he died.
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She pointed out the contrast between a picture of Ethan from April 2021, as a ‘happy, smiling little boy with chubby cheeks’ and footage of him taken from the back garden in the weeks before his death.
Ms Rees said: ‘What you see there in that CCTV is a small and diminished, withdrawn, malnourished, broken little boy whose life by now has become characterised by misery and suffering.’
She added: ‘Ethan’s little body was covered in injuries on the outside but also seriously injured inside, including a catastrophic brain injury which led to his death.’
Experts said his injury was caused by impact or shaking with the kind of force that would be ‘horrifying’ for a bystander to watch.
Medical evidence also showed an older brain injury which was likely to have been sustained more than two weeks earlier.
Ethan was also found to have abdominal injuries likely to have been caused by blows in the days before his collapse, which Ms Rees said were consistent with CCTV of Michael Ives appearing to punch the toddler after putting him into a car seat on August 12.
Bruises on his face and leg were consistent with grip marks, the jury heard.
The court heard Ethan had been placed on the child protection register, requiring him to be seen every 10 days, but when Shannon Ives last saw her social worker, on August 5, she spoke to him on the doorstep and told him Ethan was having a nap.
No-one answered the door when social worker Michael Cornish went to visit in the days before Ethan’s death and a scheduled appointment with a health visitor on August 13 was cancelled.
Shannon Ives had fled domestic violence from her home in Mold in June that year, the jury was told.
Her parents accused her of hitting her son, with Michael Ives telling the jury his daughter was ‘quick-tempered’ and would slap Ethan a couple of times a day.
But Shannon Ives told the court her parents were ‘horrible’ and abused her as a child.
The court heard Ethan was made to stand with his hands on his head as a punishment when he misbehaved.
Timeline of events leading up to Ethan’s death
April 27, 2019 – Ethan Ives-Griffiths is born to his mother Shannon Ives.
June 9, 2021 – Police are called to the home of Shannon Ives in Mold, where her partner Will Griffiths is arrested for controlling and coercive behaviour. She and Ethan Ives-Griffiths are taken to safety and later move in with her sister in Garden City, Deeside.
June 24, 2021 – Ethan moves into the home of his grandparents, Michael and Kerry Ives, in Kingsley Road, Garden City, while his mother continues to live with her sister. The toddler stays for a brief period before returning to his mother.
July 16, 2021 – Ethan and Shannon Ives move into the home on Kingsley Road.
July 22, 2021 – Social worker Michael Cornish attends the home of Shannon Ives’s sister for a visit, but is told she has moved. He then attends the Kingsley Road home, where he sees Ethan and speaks to Shannon. He tells her Ethan is on the child protection register and there is a requirement for him to be seen every 10 days.
August 4, 2021 – CCTV footage from the back garden shows Ethan on a trampoline. He is seen being carried by his grandfather, Michael Ives, by the top of his arm. Expert medical witnesses said Ethan appeared to have already sustained some brain injury at the time, based on the way he appeared in the footage.
August 5, 2021 – Mr Cornish contacts Shannon Ives to arrange a visit. They have a conversation about the family needing to isolate due to Covid. Just after 3pm, he attended the house but did a doorstep visit and was told Ethan was having a nap.
August 9, 2021 – A core group meeting is due to be held, involving social services professionals and Shannon Ives. Shannon Ives does not attend. She messages Mr Cornish to say she is not feeling well, but later accepts that was not true.
August 12, 2021 – Ethan is seen on CCTV leaving the house for the first time since August 4. Footage shows him being carried by his arm by Michael Ives into the car. Ives appears to hit out twice with his arm once the toddler is in his car seat. Health visitor Ellie Jones and Mr Cornish attempt to visit the home, but there is no answer at the door.
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August 13, 2021 – According to what the Ives family will later tell police, Ethan collapses on this day, but no medical attention is sought. A planned visit with the health visitor is cancelled by Shannon Ives. Footage shows Ethan is taken to Tesco by his grandparents. The prosecution alleges Michael Ives is seen mimicking Ethan’s walk when he returns to the home. Mr Cornish tries to phone Shannon Ives, but there is no response.
August 14, 2021 – 9.02pm – Shannon Ives is on the phone when her mother shouts for her to come downstairs because Ethan has collapsed. Michael and Kerry Ives were in the living room with their grandson when this happened, but both told police nothing had happened to cause him to faint.
9.20pm – Kerry Ives rings 999 and paramedics are called to the address and take the toddler to hospital.
August 16, 2021 – Ethan is pronounced dead at 6pm in Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
CCTV footage from August 4 showed Michael Ives carrying his grandson by the top of his arm in a way which Caroline Rees KC, prosecuting, described as ‘as though Ethan was just a bag of rubbish to be slung out’.
The video, taken from the back garden of the family’s four-bedroom home, showed Ethan appearing unsteady on the trampoline, or lying down, while other children bounced and appeared to show Michael Ives point the garden hose at him, place the toddler’s hands on his head and gesture to another child to punch Ethan.
After watching the video in court, Michael Ives said he felt ‘ashamed’ and admitted being cruel and neglectful of the toddler, but denied mistreating him in other ways.
The cameras did not show Ethan leave the house after August 4 until August 12, when Michael Ives was seen again carrying him by the upper arm, putting him into a car seat and appearing to punch towards the youngster.
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When Ethan was examined by doctors after his death, he was found to have abdominal injuries likely to have been caused by blows in the days before his collapse.
Other injuries included bruises which were consistent with grip marks on his leg and face.
Experts said Ethan would have died of dehydration within days had he not suffered the head injury and at the time of his death weighed just 10kg, the court was told.
The jury heard medical evidence that Ethan’s fatal head injury was caused by deliberate force or shaking and occurred at the time, or in the minutes before, he collapsed on the evening of Saturday, August 14 2021.
Michael and Kerry Ives, originally from Wolverhampton, were in the living room with Ethan at the time of his collapse while his mother was on the phone upstairs.
Both told the jury ‘nothing’ had happened to the toddler before he fainted as they watched television.
Kerry Ives said she immediately called Shannon Ives to come downstairs, but the court heard it was 18 minutes before she called emergency services.
Ethan was taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital and later transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, where he died two days later.
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