Father who suffocated his toddler son guilty of murder - 18 years after the attack

Alan Bird, 48, faces a life sentence after a jury found him guilty of murdering son Lewis Turner after a trial at Leeds Crown Court.

Bird inflicted permanent and irreparable brain damage on Lewis in an attack in 2001 when his son was just two years old.

He has already served an eight-year prison sentence over the attack after he pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent over the assault.

But he was re-arrested and put on trial for murder after Lewis' death in July 2019.

Prosecutors said he is criminally responsible for his death and a jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict yesterday (March 22).

Jurors heard how Lewis developed a "myriad of conditions" which included cerebral palsy as a result of Bird's attack.

His speech, hearing and sight were impaired and he had to be fed through a tube.

Lewis was found dead on July 18, 2019, at the home where he lived with his adoptive parents in Tingley.

The cause of death was given as peritonitis caused by an infection from his feeding tube.

Bird was charged with murder following Lewis' death as there is no time limit as to how long someone remains "criminally responsible", the court heard.

Prosecutor Richard Wright QC told the jury: "The death of Lewis Turner was not some freak infection that took the life of a healthy boy. It was instead the final consequence of a deliberate assault on Lewis by Alan Bird.

"His feeding tube caused the infection to develop. He only had that feeding tube as a direct consequence of the defendant attacking him."

Bird was Lewis' natural father and he attacked his son on the night of September 29, 2001, when he was just two years old.

The attack took place at their home on Thorn Avenue, Dewsbury.

Paramedics found Lewis covered in bruises and "deathly pale" when they were called to the property.

He was rushed to hospital where a scan revealed he had suffered the devastating injuries as a result of his brain being starved of oxygen.

Bird later admitted to a social worker that he was responsible for causing the injuries and had done so by holding a pillow over the child's face for a few minutes.

Bird, of Batley, pleaded not guilty to murder.

Mr Wright told jurors at the start of the trial that it may be suggested during the trial that Lewis' death was a result of medical negligence.

But a professor of gastrointestinal surgery - who conducted an independent investigation following Lewis' death - found his NHS care to be "faultless".

Bird was remanded in custody after the trial and will be sentenced on Monday (March 28) by Mr Justice Jacobs.