Key evidence which proved Kyle Bevan murdered Lola James

Three weeks ago, a jury found Bevan guilty of murder – which he had denied – following an almost month-long trial.

Lola’s mum, Sinead James, was also found guilty of causing or allowing the death of her daughter, and will also be sentenced tomorrow.

“On July 16, 2020, Lola James, a beautiful bright little girl went to bed without, according to her mother, a bump, bruise, or scrape on her body – apart from a bruise to her nose,” Prosecutor Caroline Rees had told Swansea Crown Court.

“At 6.32am the next morning, Lola was battered, scratched, and heavily bruised from head to toe.

“She was in the care of Kyle Bevan as Sinead James slept upstairs.”

Lola James died aged two in July 2020. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

Lola was taken to Withybush Hospital, before being transferred to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, where she died on July 21.

Ms Rees said such “serious and extensive injuries” were the result of “a frenzied and brutal attack”, and were consistent with “blunt force trauma and forceful shaking”.

She suggested that Lola must have been rendered unconscious early in the alleged attack, as James had given evidence that she was not woken during the night, despite sleeping with the door open and waking “at the slightest noise”.

Lola was found to have sustained 101 injuries as a result of the incident.

The jury heard testimony from one doctor that Lola’s body was “the most extensively battered and bruised [they] had ever seen”.

“This was a deliberate assault and not an accident,” Ms Rees said.

The delay in calling an ambulance

The court heard the incident is believed to have happened just before 6.32am – the time Bevan searched “My two-year-old child has just taken a bang to the head and has gone all limp and snoring” on his phone.

The jury heard that Bevan took photographs at 6.38am and 6.39am showing Lola’s head, eyes and lips extremely swollen and bruised, and she appeared to be unconscious.

There was a delay of around an hour before an ambulance was called for Lola. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

He then messaged his mum, Alison Bevan, from 6.48am – also calling her and sending her the pictures of Lola.

He claimed he did this because she was “a nurse” – when in fact she is a non-medically trained healthcare support worker – and he didn’t wake James as he “didn’t want her to wake up with a dead child”.

Ms Bevan replied at 6.56am telling her son to call an ambulance and to wake James.

He did not. Instead, he sent his mum a video of him trying to prop up an unconscious and severely injured Lola.

At 7.28am, Bevan asked his mother to ring an ambulance, which she did. James had now been woken up, and also called 999 at 7.31am.

Previous incidents

The jury also heard about other incidents involving James’ two younger children while in the care of Bevan.

Shortly before her death, Lola suffered injuries to her nose after Bevan claimed she had been knocked off the sofa by the dog and hit her face on the coffee table.

On May 4, Bevan claimed Lola had cut her lip falling from her bed while he was in the room, while Lola’s sister also suffered facial injuries, as well as allegedly being knocked over by the dog running to the front door on July 16, both while in Bevan’s care.

Kyle Bevan talking to officers after Lola had been taken to hospital. (Image: Crown Prosecution Service)

And on July 7, it is alleged that Bevan pushed James’ youngest daughter in her pram into a busy road while saying “f*** it”.

“That incident alone ought to have demonstrated to Sinead James that Kyle Bevan posed a risk to her children,” said Ms Rees.

Several of the previous incidents were also blamed on the family dog – an American Bulldog named Jessie.

Coral Barker, who previously owned the dog, said it never showed any signs of aggression before and had never knocked over any of her young children, while when James’ dad owned the dog, it had never injured the children.

The court did hear witnesses describe the dog as “not the type of dog you should have around young children” and that it was later destroyed for injuring someone.

Drug use

James told officers Bevan would have a “bomb” of amphetamine “once a week” and smoked cannabis “every day”.

She said Bevan took Xanax “two or three times” and that it made him go “off his head”.

“Everything you heard about him from witnesses, including Sinead James, proves him to be aggressive and unpredictable, exacerbated by his use of drugs,” said Ms Rees.

The jury heard Bevan “exploded” May 14 after taking Xanax and “smashed the house up” with a hammer, while after taking Xanax on another occasion in July, James’ tooth cap was knocked off by the dog as it jumped onto the bed after it was spooked by Bevan “shouting” and “headbutting the door”.

The Frozen onesie

When officers attended the family home after James and Bevan returned from Withybush Hospital, they found a grey onesie that was “smelling of vomit” and had been hidden, as well as a blanket on Lola’s bed with what appeared to be vomit and urine stains on it.

A Frozen onesie had been hidden, and was found wet and smelling of vomit. (Image: Crown Prosecution Service)

Paramedics also reported that Lola’s hair was wet when they attended.

The police asked Bevan about a neighbour reporting that he’d said he’d thrown water in Lola’s face, which he denied.

The officers put it to Bevan that Lola was wet when paramedics arrived because earlier he had washed her down after she had vomited, and tried to cover up that she’d vomited by giving her Calpol. Bevan denied this.

Relationship with James and her past abuse

Bevan and James met online in February 2020 when Bevan messaged her on Facebook. Within days they met in person, and a few days later he met James’ children.

He moved into the house within weeks due to the coronavirus lockdown.

James had just got out of a domestic abuse relationship, and the jury heard she had been warned against inviting adults into the home if she didn’t know them or they misused alcohol or drugs. She also hid Bevan from her health visitor, instead saying that she had a female friend staying with her.

Sinead James will also be sentenced tomorrow. (Image: Athena Picture Agency)

Bevan told James he would protect her and her children from her ex-partner, and she described him initially as “completely different” to her abusive ex-partner.

However, the jury heard of an incident where Bevan grabbed James, and she admitted she felt “intimidated” by Bevan’s actions.

James was offered domestic violence support in 2014 and completed the Freedom Programme in 2016. She was put back on the Freedom Programme in January 2020 – but did not complete it as it was giving the same information as before, she said.

“Sinead James had been educated in responses to domestic violence situations and the impact on children,” said Ms Rees. “She had been given advice about bringing adults into the home. But she ignored them.

“This is someone who has been given every opportunity to make better decisions but has failed to do so.”

The jury heard about a message James was sent by Bevan’s ex-partner’s mum on July 9. In the message, James was told “mother-to-mother I’m very concerned that he’s around your children”.

“I wish I’d listened to her and got rid of him,” she said.