Killer who crushed Alfie Lamb to death with car seat released from prison

31 January 2022, 20:56 | Updated: 1 February 2022, 07:50

The "manipulative" and "arrogant" man who crushed Alfie Lamb to death with a car seat has been released from prison.

Stephen Waterson was jailed for seven and a half years in November 2019 after pleading guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed he has been released under probation supervision.

Waterson reversed his seat into the three-year-old, who was in the footwell behind, in his convertible Audi on February 1, 2018.

Alfie sustained irreversible brain injuries during the car journey and died in hospital three days later.

READ MORE: Boris says sorry as Partygate report slams No10's 'failures of leadership'

READ MORE: Sajid U-turn as mandatory vaccines for NHS and social care staff to be scrapped

The nightclub worker had initially denied a charge of manslaughter by gross negligence, but changed his plea to guilty prior to a retrial at the Old Bailey.

During his trial, the court heard how he became annoyed at Alfie's crying and moved his front passenger seat into him as he sat at the feet of his mother, Adrian Hoare.

Hoare told jurors that when Alfie continued to moan Waterson reversed again, saying: "I won't be told what to do by a three-year-old."

By the time they arrived at his home in Croydon, the little boy had collapsed and stopped breathing.

Waterson, the son of former government minister Nigel Waterson - who was elected MP for Eastbourne in 1992 and was a junior minister in John Major's government - later lied to police about the tragic incident and threatened his girlfriend and two others who were also in the car.

He was sentenced to five years and six months for manslaughter, two additional years for intimidation and 18 months for conspiring to pervert the course of justice, with the latter sentences running concurrently.

He was described during his trial as "arrogant, selfish and deeply unpleasant".

The judge called him "cunning, manipulative, threatening and controlling".

Hoare, from Gravesend, was jailed in May 2019 for two years and nine months for child cruelty.

She also admitted to conspiring to pervert the course of justice by lying to the police. She was additionally convicted of assaulting another witness, Emilie Williams.

Pregnant barmaid Williams, 20, admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice after being threatened and "coerced" into lying to police by Waterson.

She was sentenced to five months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and 100 hours of unpaid work which is to be completed after she gives birth in January.

Alfie's death is the first recorded UK case of someone dying from crush asphyxiation as a result of an electronic car seat.

A MoJ spokesperson said: "This was a despicable crime and our sympathies remain with the family.

"Waterson has been released under probation supervision after serving the prison part of his sentence but can be returned there if he breaches the strict conditions he is under."