Lola James ‘should have been safe in her own home’: How a little girl was let down by her mother who failed to save her from a murderer – amid questions over why social services failed to visit in lockdown

• Two-year-old Lola James died following a ‘frenzied and extremely violent attack’ 

A drug-addled thug was today jailed for life after killing his two-year-old step-daughter in a ‘frenzied and extremely violent attack’ and filming her as she lay dying.

Kyle Bevan, 31, a self-confessed ‘spice head’, launched a savage attack on Lola James in July 2020 after the toddler’s mother failed to protect her following months of abuse.

Mother Sinead James, 30, allowed Bevan to move into her squalid home in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, just days after meeting him on Facebook at the start of the Covid pandemic. Bevan was today jailed for six years – but will serve just half of that.

The prosecution said Lola ‘should have been safe in her own home’ and that James allowed a ‘violent and destructive man’ into their lives and ‘failed in her duty’ to protect her child.

While the court also heard text messages from James to Bevan that said Lola was ‘doing her head in’ and that she would ‘throw her out the window.’ 

Social services have been left facing tough questions over the killing of the defenceless child, as they failed to make a visit in lockdown.

Two-year-old Lola James (pictured) was killed by Kyle Bevan who carried out a ‘frenzied and extremely violent attack’ leaving the toddler with 101 bruises and a catastrophic brain injury

Kyle Bevan, 31, was today jailed for life today at Swansea Crown Court. Lola’s mother Sinead James, 30, was today sentenced to six years, of which she will only serve three

As Lola lay dying, Bevan tried to blame the family dog for her death and used the little girl’s final hours to cover his tracks instead of calling for an ambulance. He filmed disturbing pictures and videos of Lola, showing marks on her back and swelling and bruising to her head, eyes and lips.

How little Lola was let down by her mother who failed to save her from a murderer

September 30 2017: Lola James is born.

January 2020: A multi-agency referral is submitted by health visitor Lesley Steadman after reports of a domestic incident involving James’s former partner at her home.

February 10 2020: Ms Steadman carries out her last face-to-face visit with James at the property due to the coronavirus lockdown. She said she raised concerns about the condition of the house and James raised concerns about Lola’s behaviour and said she thought the toddler might have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

February 2020: Bevan and James strike up a relationship online.

Bevan moves in with James and her children at their home in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, a day after meeting each other.

April: Facebook messages reveal Lola suffered different injuries while in Bevan’s care

May 14: Bevan is alleged to have used a hammer to smash up parts of the house and tried headbutting James. James flees with the children and takes them to friend Casey Morgan’s house.

July 9: Lola sustains an injury to the bridge of her nose, which also causes her eyes to appear bruised. Bevan claims she fell off the sofa on to the coffee table.

July 16: James claims she went to bed between 7pm and 8pm, leaving Lola downstairs with Bevan.

July 16: Bevan stays up late with Lola, taking pictures of her using Snapchat filters. He claims he then put her to bed.

July 17: A few minutes after midnight James says she heard a bang and a scream and found Bevan comforting Lola in her bedroom. He tells her Lola has hit her head but he is dealing with it. James goes back to bed.

July 17: At 4.26am Lola is known to be conscious and upright because of a picture Bevan takes of injuries to her back.

At 6.37am, Bevan takes a screenshot of a website providing him with clear guidance that he should seek emergency medical help if a child displays symptoms such as excessive bruising or swelling and/or loss of consciousness.

At 6.58am, Bevan sends his mother a disturbing 22-second film of him trying to prop up a clearly unconscious and severely injured Lola. When she inevitably falls to the floor with a thud, he comments: ‘She’s gone. She’s gone.’

At around 7.20am James says Bevan woke her up and tells her Lola has fallen down the stairs, and shows her a piece of Lola’s tongue on his finger.

At 7.28am, nearly an hour after the internet searches, Bevan asks his mother to call an ambulance. He claims he cannot make the call himself and tells his mother he has told James he has called for an ambulance already.

Emergency services operators receive a 999 call from Ms Bevan at 7.29am.

Paramedics arrive at the scene at around 7.34am. At this stage Lola is unconscious but alive.

Bevan tells the paramedics: ‘I think the dog tripped her over.’

Lola is transferred by ambulance to Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest.

It is there that Bevan becomes aggressive with doctors who are asking questions about Lola’s injuries.

Lola is transferred to University Hospital Wales (UHW) in Cardiff and arrives at 11.15am.

Bevan claims Lola was pushed down the stairs by the dog and says he only feels partly responsible because he was making her a bowl of cereal at the time.

At 3.15pm Bevan messages James asking her what she is going to tell the police. The prosecution said this was Bevan making sure she would give an account consistent with his.

At 4.34pm James is arrested at the UHW on suspicion of child neglect and at 4.37pm Bevan is also arrested at a neighbour’s house. Both are questioned.

July 17-18: Police crime scene investigators attend the house and find the property is generally dirty but the bath appears to be recently cleaned.

Bevan sends abusive text messages to Lola’s biological father, Dan Thomas.

July 21: Lola dies at University Hospital Wales (UHW) in Cardiff at 1.18pm as a result of catastrophic injuries. She is two years and 10 months old.

January 18 2021: Bevan is further arrested on suspicion of murder.

April 21 2022: Bevan and James are rearrested and charged with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child respectively.

April 25 2023: Bevan and James are jailed.

One doctor who examined Lola said she was ‘the most battered and bruised child’ she had ever seen during her long career. 

James had been warned her boyfriend was dangerous just eight days before he carried out the fatal attack, when his ex-partner’s mother messaged the mother-of-three on Facebook to say Bevan was a ‘child protection risk’, telling her: ‘I’m concerned about the fact that he is around your children.’

Lola joins a harrowing rollcall of children – including Finley Boden, Star Hobson, Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Logan Mwangi – who were left alone to die at the hands of their killer parents during lockdown.

Lola died in hospital four days after the horrific attack in the rubbish-strewn home, which social services failed to check in on due to Covid restrictions, on July 17 2020. 

Lola’s mother was a victim of domestic abuse and had been educated twice on how to spot signs of an abuser, but she chose to prioritise her relationship with Bevan over her child’s safety, the court heard previously. 

She had been told by the local authority not to invite adults into the family home if she did not know them well or if they were alcohol or drug abusers, but she ignored their advice. 

James had tried to check on Bevan’s previous history of domestic abuse through Clare’s Law but he refused to reveal his date of birth. 

NSPCC Cymru said a child practice review, which will be carried out into Lola’s death, should establish whether more could have been done by agencies to prevent her death. 

Bevan had moved in the same month social services visited and raised concerns about the conditions of the filthy house, however, authorities failed to return before the child’s death.

Passing sentence at Swansea Crown Court, Judge Justice Griffiths said: ‘Lola was a very young child, two years and 10 months old. 

‘She was particularly vulnerable, not being strong enough to resist or old enough to tell anyone what was happening. Kyle Bevan was in a position of trust. Having assumed the role, as he described himself to the ambulance crew, of Lola’s stepfather.

‘I am sure that Kyle Bevan did this as an exercise of power and assertion of superiority over the only person who he could feel superior to, a helpless child.’

Throughout the sentencing hearing at Swansea Crown Court Bevan remained expressionless and showed no emotion as he was jailed for life for murdering little Lola.

Her mother remained tearful throughout the sentencing and cried when she was jailed for six years. 

The judge said Bevan, from Aberystwyth, has shown no remorse for what he has done but had only shown concern for himself. 

He added: ‘Lola James was described by her grandmother as a character, who ‘loved life’.

‘Her father said she was ‘always smiling and happy, a little ray of sunshine’, with a laugh which would ‘fill the room with pure joy’. Her photograph reminds us of a beautiful little girl. 

‘But you, Kyle Bevan, murdered her when she was only two years old and you, Sinead James, allowed her death.’

Bevan denied he had harmed Lola, instead claiming that the family’s American bulldog Jessie had pushed her down the stairs. 

John Hipkin KC, defending Bevan, said ‘there was ‘little or no mitigation’ he could offer for his client after his conviction for murder. 

James, who had been in bed when the brutal attack is believed to have happened, was found guilty of causing or allowing her daughter’s death.

David Elias KC, defending James, said she was ‘in fear’ of Bevan’s reaction if she went to the police after being the victim of domestic violence at the hands of previous partners.

Speaking at the sentencing hearing today, Lola’s grandmother told Bevan to ‘look at (her)’ as she read a heartbreaking victim impact statement where she blamed herself for what had happened.

She said: ‘Kyle, you took the young innocent life of my granddaughter. At the same time you have taken so much more that you can imagine.

‘You killed my Lola and you have broken her family. I hope the time you have now you can understand what you have done.

‘Lola’s clothes still hang in the wardrobe and her toys are still in the cupboard, but she is no longer here.’

Lola’s grandmother had been due to babysit on the fateful night of her murder but was feeling ill at the time.

She told the court she blamed herself for what happened and was left wondering why she didn’t spot the domestic abuse going on in the family home.

She said: ‘I sit outside her house every night talking to Lola’s star in the sky and telling her about everything that has happened that day.

‘Lola would spend happy days in the garden eating the strawberries and apples they had grown. 

Lola, pictured with a muddy face: Her grandmother described the little girl as a ‘cheeky monkey and never happier than when wearing her wellies, playing outside, caked in mud’ 

Lola’s biological father Daniel Thomas pictured outside court today. He told the court: ‘Lola was as bright as the golden sun. She was beautiful, charming and cheeky – her laugh would fill the room with pure joy’

Photographs of the home showed old takeaway boxes and cigarette buts on a wooden table near Lola’s toys

Bevan is believed to have cleaned the bath after putting Lola in it, either to revive her or to clean her after the assault. A child’s wet, vomit and blood-stained grey Frozen onesie which she is believed to have been wearing when she was attacked was later found in the corner of the living room. Paramedics arrived to find Lola wet and in clean clothes 

Lola was rushed to hospital with the horrific injuries where she remained for four days until her death on July 17 2020 

‘She was a cheeky monkey and never happier than when wearing her wellies, playing outside, caked in mud.’ 

‘Lola didn’t stand a chance. Her little life was filled with filth and chaos at the hands of her mother’: Family’s heartbreak over murder of their ‘cheeky little monkey’

Reading a victim statement in court, Lola’s grandmother told Beven to ‘look at me Kyle’.

She continued: ‘Kyle, you took the young innocent life of my granddaughter. At the same time you have taken so much more that you can imagine.

‘You killed my Lola and you have broken her family. I hope the time you have now you can understand what you have done.

‘Lola’s clothes still hang in the wardrobe and her toys are still in the cupboard, but she is no longer here.

‘I sit outside her house every night talking to Lola’s star in the sky and telling her about everything that has happened that day.

‘Lola would spend happy days in the garden eating the strawberries and apples they had grown.

‘She was a cheeky monkey and never happier than when wearing her wellies, playing outside, caked in mud.’ 

Lola’s heartbroken biological father Daniel Thomas also read out a victim statement.

He said: ‘Lola was as bright as the golden sun. She was beautiful, charming and cheeky – her laugh would fill the room with pure joy.

‘As a parent all I could hope for was that Lola would continue to grow with happiness and health and with the courage in her heart to know she could be anything, and do anything she wanted but that will never be.’

‘Lola didn’t just die, wasn’t just taken from me in the worst way ever possible, she was brutally attacked – her tiny body was savaged in the evilest way, she didn’t stand a chance.

‘Lola’s little life was filled with filth and chaos at the hands of her mother who couldn’t even provide her with basic safety in her own home.

‘The guilt I feel lives inside me and will never leave, as the memory of Lola lying in a hospital bed fighting to stay alive will remain with me always. All I have been left with is guilt, heartache, pain, and torment.’

Lola’s heartbroken father Daniel Thomas said: ‘Lola was as bright as the golden sun. She was beautiful, charming and cheeky – her laugh would fill the room with pure joy.

‘As a parent all I could hope for was that Lola would continue to grow with happiness and health and with the courage in her heart to know she could be anything, and do anything she wanted but that will never be.

‘Lola didn’t just die, wasn’t just taken from me in the worst way ever possible, she was brutally attacked – her tiny body was savaged in the evilest way, she didn’t stand a chance.

‘Lola’s little life was filled with filth and chaos at the hands of her mother who couldn’t even provide her with basic safety in her own home.

‘The guilt I feel lives inside me and will never leave, as the memory of Lola lying in a hospital bed fighting to stay alive will remain with me always. 

‘All I have been left with is guilt, heartache, pain, and torment.’ 

The court heard Bevan had a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ personality who regularly used amphetamines, Xanex, valium and cannabis.

The NCPCC Cymru’s assistant director Tracey Holdsworth said: ‘Lola died because of Kyle Bevan’s brutality and the abject failure of her mother, Sinead James, to protect her.

‘The Welsh Government has rightly committed to transforming children’s social care and it is crucial this leads to systemic changes that ensure children like Lola are better protected.’

During the four-week trial, the court heard how Bevan and James met on Facebook in February 2020 and that Bevan moved into the family home within days of them meeting.

He remained living in the house throughout the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which Lola suffered a number of injuries while in his sole care – including a damaged nose, black eyes and a cut lip.

In on text, killer Bevan wrote to James: ‘Too many kids in the house. Just doing my head in.’

He later claimed Lola fell out of her cot while she was under his care.

He told James: ‘She was stood in her cot, and she dropped to the floor really quickly. She bit her lip on the way down. I tried to help but she kicked off. I feel like you don’t trust me anymore.’

‘Lola needs to get used to me babe, I am not the devil, I think the world of that little girl,’ another said.

James previously admitted Bevan ‘petrified’ her and had previously used a hammer to smash up her home after consuming Xanax and alcohol.

Jurors heard how the couple both took amphetamines when the children were at James’ mother’s house. 

James (pictured) was a victim of domestic abuse and had been educated twice on how to spot signs of an abuser, but she chose to priotise her relationship with Bevan over her child’s safety, the court heard previously

The trial  earlier this month was shown shocking pictures of the squalid home at Swansea Crown Court

When police asked James in January 2021 what steps she had taken to protect Lola, the mother said she ‘never thought’ her daughter was ‘in major danger’. She maintained that her daughter was ‘safe with me’.

Jurors were told that Bevan then launched a ‘murderous’ attack on Lola after staying up late with her and taking pictures of her on Snapchat.

After the fatal attack Bevan covered his tracks rather than call for an ambulance which may have saved the toddler’s life.

He searched the internet for information about head injuries before taking photos of her limp body. 

The Spice user then rang his mother, a healthcare worker, who raised the alarm on March 17 2020.

While Lola was being rushed to hospital, Bevan concocted a story about how the toddler was knocked down the stairs by the family dog despite a baby gate on her room. 

Bevan claimed he was innocent, but refused to give evidence during his trial last month at Swansea Crown Court.

The jury were shown photographs Bevan had taken on his phone of marks on Lola’s back and extensive swelling and bruising to her head, eyes and lips.

A disturbing video Bevan sent to his mother showed him picking up Lola’s limp body, attempting to stand her on her feet before letting her fall to the floor – telling the camera: ‘She’s gone.’

Bevan did not ask his mother to phone for an ambulance for Lola until almost 7.30am, having only woken James up at about 7.20am.

More than 100 scratches and bruises were recorded on Lola’s body, and she also had extensive damage to both her eyes, with the injuries to her brain comparable with those found in car crash victims.

One doctor said Lola was the most battered and bruised child she had examined in her entire career. 

Bevan denied he had harmed Lola, instead claiming that the family’s American bulldog Jessie – pictured with James – had pushed her down the stairs

Tributes and toys left outside of the house where Lola James was living in Haverfordwest, Wales, after her death in 2020

The morning of July 17, Bevan sent his mother a disturbing 22-second film of him trying to prop up a clearly unconscious and severely injured Lola. When she fell to the floor with a thud, he said: ‘She’s gone. She’s gone’

James (pictured) and Bevan were both found guilty after a jury took over ten hours to decide their verdict at Swansea Crown Court

Judge Justice Griffiths said he was sure Bevan was responsible for multiple assaults on Lola before her tragic murder.

He said: ‘I am satisfied the attack was an exercise of power over the only person he could feel superior to – a helpless child.

‘The assault was sustained, deliberate and very violent and involved the use of weapons.

‘By the time of the murder, James knew Bevan was not to be trusted with Lola. He says the day before Lola was beaten into a coma James had asked Bevan for his date of birth so she could do a Clare’s Law check but he refused.

‘In the early hours of the following day Bevan assaulted Lola, hitting her to the side of the head with such force that she suffered bleeding on the brain and bleeding in the ear, and shook her back and forth with such force she suffered brain damage.’

James told the court how she heard ‘a bang and a scream’ coming from Lola’s bedroom just after midnight and ran there to find her daughter sitting on Bevan’s lap, with no visible injuries.

She described how Bevan reassured her, saying ‘I’ve got this’, before she went back to bed.

Hours later, she was woken by Bevan saying that Lola had fallen down the stairs – showing her a piece of the little girl’s tongue on his finger.

James dialed 999 in tears after finding her daughter unresponsive on the sofa, telling operators that Lola’s face appeared ‘swollen’ and she was ‘really scared’.

In hospital, Bevan became aggressive with hospital doctors who questioned him over Lola’s injuries while she was in a life-threatening condition.

Speaking following the sentencing, Senior Crown Prosecutor John Griffiths from the CPS, said: ‘Lola was a happy and beautiful little girl that was bursting with energy. Her life had barely started when these defendants snatched it away from her.

‘Kyle Bevan described himself as Lola’s ‘step-father’ but his actions were anything but paternal.

‘He had inflicted injuries on Lola in the past, but this time his aggression led to him murdering a defenceless child in his care.

‘Lola should have been safe in her own home and surrounded by people that she could trust. But instead, her mother Sinead James allowed a violent and destructive man into their lives and failed in her duty to protect Lola from harm. James was well aware that Bevan was a danger, but she willingly chose to keep him in her life.’

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