A MOTHER and her lover have been jailed for five years after pleading guilty to child cruelty charges after the death of her 21-month-old son.

Lorna Gray, 30, from Fife, and James McEwan, 27, from Manchester, each pleaded guilty to one count of child cruelty after the death of John Gray in March 2003.

After the case the child’s father called for a change in the law in England and Scotland after he claimed that he had contacted Fife police with concerns for the child’s safety but was told they could do nothing if the child was injured in England.

The youngster died as a result of a ruptured liver thought to have been caused by a blow to the abdomen.

A post-mortem examination found that the boy had more than 200 injuries on 92 separate parts of his body including multiple injuries to his stomach wall, four fractured ribs and a fractured arm.

Passing sentence at Manchester Crown Court, Mr Justice McKinnon said that the couple had been guilty of the “most extreme” child cruelty.

The court heard that Gray had separated from her husband, Dean, after she began an affair with McEwan, whom she met on an internet chat room.

The court was told that Gray and her children had travelled to Manchester to stay with McEwan on Friday March 14.

The child had vomited green bile on the Saturday evening and was found unconscious and unresponsive by Gray at around 10.44am on Sunday. Paramedics were called an hour later and attempted to revive the child but he was taken to hospital and pronounced dead shortly after 12.45pm.

Mr Justice McKinnon said: “There was the most serious ill-treatment of young John over that last weekend.

“This was a very bad case indeed. There is no explanation from either of you as to how these injuries which covered John’s body were sustained.

“It is not possible in my judgment to choose between the two of you. You must take joint responsibility for what happened to young John. You are both guilty of the most extreme cruelty by wilful neglect of young John.”

Angry scenes erupted in the public gallery following the sentence with members of Mr Gray’s family condemning the sentence as “not justice”.

Later Mr Gray condemned the sentence as insufficient.

He said: “Five years for killing my little boy? His life was worth more than that.

“The sentence passed today is unacceptable and I will fight to have it reassessed through an appeal.

“I am not a religious person but I hope he may find some peace in the future. Right now he would find no peace.”

Michael Shorrock, Mrs Gray’s barrister, described the death of the youngster as “an enormous tragedy” adding that her infatuation for McEwan had been so overwhelming that she had lost her objectivity. He said that McEwan tried to stop Gray from cuddling the toddler, calling him “a mummy’s boy”.

The pair pleaded guilty to child cruelty after they were cleared of manslaughter charges.

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