Finley Boden: Chesterfield man accused of killing 10-month-old son - found with 130 injuries - may have been 'too rough' but said it was 'accidental'

A jury has heard that text messages were made to drug dealers by Stephen Boden, 30, who denies the Christmas Day murder of the ten-month-old child.

One was sent by the baby's mother Shannon Marsden, 21, who also pleads not guilty to murder in Old Whittington in 2020.

Andrew Vout KC, defending Marsden, asked Boden at Derby Crown Court: "What you use to control your temper is your cannabis use. Do you agree?" Boden told him: "No."

He also disagreed when Mr Vout suggested he was hooked on the drug, saying: "You don't get addicted to cannabis."

Boden, who admitted using cannabis from the age of nine, said the drug was also smoked by Marsden, who texted a dealer on December 23, saying: "Need bud ASAP."

Asked why the message sounded urgent, Boden told the court: "We were having an argument that day."

Mr Vout said: "Here we have another example of you having lost your temper and there being an urgent need of cannabis to calm you down."

But Boden said the message clearly referred to Marsden asking for the drug, rather than him.

Mr Vout suggested that Boden controlled his partner and asked: "Towards the end, Shannon didn't go near Finley, did she?" He replied: "I don't agree."

Mr Vout referred to a Valentine's Day card that Boden sent when the pair were apart and in custody.

This included a photo from early in their relationship.

Mr Vout said: "It's not a happy image is it? No-one is smiling. You are trying to look intimidating, like you are the boss and she is your little girl." He answered: "No."

The court heard that Boden attended a probation programme to reduce the risk of domestic abuse. A year later, he was put on a similar project.

Boden said: "I have learnt to control my behaviour. I have never said I was a reformed angel."

He was asked about telling police officers that Finley "liked more roughness falling asleep."

Boden said this referred to rocking the baby and went on: "Swaying side to side, bounce him up and down in your arms."

Mr Vout asked: "Do you think you misjudged the roughness?" He replied: "I may have, I don't know. Nothing had been deliberate like I said all the way through. Accidental, I have said that throughout."

The barrister said Marsden sent a text saying that Finley was "not well" while Boden described him as "really really ill."

Mr Vout said: "Perhaps because you are the one who always deals with Finley, perhaps because you knew what happened to him, had been a bit too rough with him."

When asked why the baby was not taken to a doctor or a hospital, Boden said they thought he had covid and so they made arrangements for him to have a test.

Finley was found with 130 injuries. The pair are alleged to have inflicted 71 bruises and cuts, 57 bone fractures and two burns in the three weeks prior to his death.

Mr Vout alleged that Boden tried to isolate Finley from Marsden in the last few days of his life, saying: "You kept her away. Either way, she didn't see much of him."

Boden replied: "We were downstairs with him. We were together downstairs."

The pair also deny manslaughter, allowing or causing the death of a child. The trial continues.