A mother who strangled her son to death with a scarf has been jailed for life

A mother who used a scarf and cushion to strangle and smother her seven-year-old son to death has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years.

Archie Spriggs died of asphyxia at his home in Rushbury, near Church Stretton, Shropshire, on 21 September last year.

His mother Lesley Speed had denied murdering her son and tried to claim that Archie killed himself.

Returning the verdict on Monday (26 March), it took the jury at Birmingham Crown Court just over five hours to convict Speed of the killing.

The court heard that the 44-year-old was going through a bitter custody battle with her ex-partner.

Speed feared Archie's father, Matthew Spriggs, would be granted custody of the youngster.

Her partner, Darren Jones, found the child dead on his bunk bed.

He also found Speed on the bathroom floor with self-inflicted knife wounds to her neck, arms and wrists.

The court heard that she told him she had smothered the boy.

As the verdict was read out, there were loud gasps from the public gallery as well as cries of "yes".

Archie's mother broke down and shouted:

A judge told Speed:

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Archie's father said the authorities should have done more to protect Archie.