The UK's Grandparents of the Year - so far > Couple shake grandson to death while Mom upstairs

 

Grandparents shook toddler to death

while his mother was upstairs

Telegraph reporters

Tue 15 July 2025 at 5:50 am GMT-7·4-min read

Two grandparents have been found guilty of the murder of their two-year-old grandson while his mother was upstairs.

Ethan Ives-Griffiths was dangerously dehydrated and severely underweight, with 40 visible bruises or marks, when he collapsed with a catastrophic head injury at his grandparents’ home in Flintshire, North Wales, on Aug 14, 2021.

A jury at Mold Crown Court convicted Michael Ives, 47, and Kerry Ives, 46, of his murder and of cruelty to a child under 16.

Shannon Ives, Ethan’s mother, 28, who had been staying with her son at her parents’ home in Garden City when the court heard he was “targeted for abuse and subjected to casual cruelty”, was found guilty of causing or allowing his death and of child cruelty.

A jury heard that Ethan’s fatal head injury was caused by deliberate force or shaking and occurred at the time, or in the minutes before, he collapsed.

A jury convicted Michael Ives, 47, and Kerry Ives, 46, of the murder of the two-year-old - North Wales Police/PA

Michael and Kerry Ives, originally from Wolverhampton, were in the living room with Ethan at the time of his collapse while his mother was on the phone upstairs.

Both told the jury “nothing” had happened to the toddler before he fainted as they watched television.

Kerry Ives said she immediately called Ethan’s mother to come downstairs, but the court heard it was 18 minutes before she called emergency services.

Kerry Ives and her husband were in the living room with Ethan at the time of his collapse - North Wales Police/PA

Ethan was taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital and later transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, where he died two days later.

The court heard Ethan had been placed on the child protection register, requiring him to be seen every 10 days, but when Shannon Ives last saw her social worker, on August 5, she spoke to him on the doorstep and told him Ethan was having a nap.

No one answered the door when Michael Cornish, a social worker, went to visit in the days before Ethan’s death and a scheduled appointment with a health visitor on August 13 was cancelled.

Shannon Ives had fled domestic violence from her home in Mold in June that year, the jury was told.

Her parents accused her of hitting her son, with Michael Ives telling the jury his daughter was “quick-tempered” and would slap Ethan a couple of times a day.

But Shannon Ives told the court her parents were “horrible” and abused her as a child.

Shannon Ives had fled domestic violence in June that year - North Wales Police/PA

Jurors were visibly upset at points during the five-and-a-half week trial, particularly when CCTV footage from August 4, taken from the back garden of the family’s four-bedroom home, showed Ethan appearing unsteady on the trampoline, or lying down, while other children bounced. The video appeared to show Michael Ives point the garden hose at him, place the toddler’s hands on his head and gesture to another child to punch Ethan.

After watching the recording in court, Michael Ives said he felt “ashamed” and admitted being cruel and neglectful of the toddler, but denied mistreating him in other ways.

The cameras did not show Ethan leave the house after August 4 until August 12, when Michael Ives was seen again carrying him by the upper arm, putting him into a car seat and appearing to punch towards the youngster.

Caroline Rees KC, prosecuting, described the act “as though Ethan was just a bag of rubbish to be slung out”.

When Ethan was examined by doctors after his death, he was found to have abdominal injuries likely to have been caused by blows in the days before his collapse.

Other injuries included bruises which were consistent with grip marks on his leg and face.

Michael Ives said he felt ‘ashamed’ and admitted being cruel and neglectful of the toddler - North Wales Police/PA

Experts said Ethan would have died of dehydration within days had he not suffered the head injury. At the time of his death, he weighed just 10kg, the court was told.

The jury deliberated for six hours and 54 minutes before returning their verdicts on Tuesday morning.

Mr Justice Griffiths told them that because of the “unusually distressing” subject matter in the trial, they could be exempted from jury service for the rest of their lives if they wished.

He said Michael Ives and Kerry Ives would be given life sentences and Shannon Ives faced a “substantial prison sentence”.

The defendants will be sentenced on October 3.

Islam's rape/torture of Yazidi girl results in trial in France for ISIS bride

 

France: Former wife of ISIS commander to stand trial

for Yazidi genocide and crimes against humanity

Sep 30, 2024 9:00 am By Christine Douglass-Williams

Sonia Mejri could not possibly face adequate justice in France for her part in “genocide and crimes against humanity.”

In 2018, an Iraqi judge said that he was sentencing ISIS jihadis from the UK to death in order to protect Britain. ISIS brides are every bit as dangerous as their male counterparts. Many Yazidis reported about the ISIS “theology of rape,” as well as about torture and how ISIS brides participated in it.

The Wilson Center reported this about ISIS’ theology:

Islamic State militants crossed a last possible boundary of decency by citing the Quran as authority for the barbarism they have been practicing against women. Equally disturbing, Arab leaders and the ulama, the clerical leaders of Islam, have been silent in the face of this effrontery.

The Wilson Center is indignant because it assumes the Quran doesn’t teach what ISIS claims. Unfortunately, ISIS has a case.

Initially, “the French government long refused mass repatriations of children and wives, dealing with them on a case-by-case basis that rights groups criticised as deliberately slow.” In January 2023, France finally repatriated 15 women and 32 children from jihadist prison camps in Syria. Human Rights Watch reported what “welcome news” it was, citing the “hellish” living conditions in the camps for these poor families. The gross indifference of these so-called human rights advocates to what jihadi brides have inflicted upon Yazidis is beyond the pale, from assisting their husbands in torture and rape, to the most gruesome murders. Once these ISIS brides are repatriated, after telling gullible Westerners what they want to hear, they often continue their jihadi missions on Western soil, while liberals advocate for them and dismiss the major threat they pose to society.

The mere fact that France allowed the repatriation of ISIS brides demonstrates how ill-equipped the country is to deal with them. France’s ongoing lax immigration policy is another show of the country’s ineptitude regarding national security.

Former wife of IS commander to stand trial in France on Yazidi genocide charges

Radio France Internationale, September 25, 2024:

The 35-year-old, originally from southern France, is accused of enslaving a teenage Yazidi girl in Syria in 2015 while living with her ex-husband Abdelnasser Benyoucef, a key figure in IS’s external operations.

Benyoucef is believed to be dead, though an arrest warrant has been issued for him.

The investigating judge has ordered a trial for Benyoucef on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and complicity in these crimes, as well as directing a criminal terrorist association.

Sonia Mejri’s lawyer, has reportedly disputed the charges throughout the pre-trial investigation.

‘Inhuman acts’

According to the committal order, the judge has requested that the former couple be tried before a specially composed jury court for slavery, imprisonment, torture, rape or complicity in rape, persecution and inhuman acts committed against the Yazidi minority.

Among these inhuman acts, the order highlights “forced conversion or the couple’s attempt to achieve it”, such as “ablutions after rapes” attributed to Benyoucef on the teenager.

Abdelnasser Benyoucef – alias Abou Mouthana – has already been convicted in-absentia in France for an aborted attack in the southern Paris suburb of Villejuif in 2015.

He is believed to have been (killed?) in 2016 in the Syrian-Iraqi border region under IS control in coalition air strikes.

​​​​​Testimony of Yazidi ‘slave’

Sonia Mejri is also to appear in court on charges of membership of a criminal terrorist association.

Imprisoned upon her return to France from Syria, Mejri had given evidence in trials for defendents charged with terrorist crimes – evidence that her legal council, Nabil Boudi, maintains proves her to be a “convinced repentant”.…

Being repentant would require her to renounce Islam. Whether she does or not, she still has to pay for the crimes against the Yazidi girl who was so badly abused in her presence. 

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Staffordshire Child Sex Abuse Reports Second Highest in UK

The number of child sex offences reported to police in Staffordshire last year - including rape, grooming and sexual assault - was the second highest in the UK, according to dramatic new figures.

Stafford town centre

But only one in six reports results in charges. In West Midlands, the ratio was one in eight, compared to a UK average of one in five.

An MP has described the figures as 'incredibly concerning' and called for a plan of action to be drawn up.

The number of sex complaints soared by a third across England and Wales, to 41,457 in 2014-15 compared with 31,238 in the previous year.

The number of sex abuse allegations made in Staffordshire between April 2014 and December 2015 was 1,055, second only to the Greater Manchester region. Of these, 173 led to charges.

Complaints made in the West Midlands were far fewer - just over half the number in Staffordshire and one of just a handful of forces throughout the UK which recorded a drop - but just 68 resulted in charges.

The Crown Prosecution Service provided separate figures for prosecutions for child abuse - including sex crimes, child prostitution, child cruelty, trafficked children and historical abuse where the victim was now an adult. In the past three years, there were 825 in the West Midlands and 269 in Staffordshire.

Gavin Williamson , MP for South Staffordshire, said: "It's incredibly concerning. Child protection is one of the most important areas dealt with by any police force.

Wootton, Staffordshire

"We need a clear explanation as to why there is such a high number of cases in Staffordshire and a clear plan of action to address the situation so that instead of being one of the worst forces in relation to his type of distressing offence it is one of the best."

Rob Marris, MP for Wolverhampton South West, called for the intervention of the Police and Crime Commissioner. He said: "The reasons for the apparently worrying performance of West Midlands Police needs to be investigated as a matter of urgency."

Supt Tim Martin, head of Staffordshire Police’s public protection investigation team said protecting vulnerable children from abuse was a priority for the force.

He said: "In addition to adult and child protection teams the force has dedicated teams set up to specifically target child sexual exploitation on street, online (Operation Safenet) and also a multi-agency Prevent team. All this activity means we uncover a greater number of offences as we are actively focusing on them.

“But offenders are often charged with more than one offence which may mean that the proportion of people arrested per offence differs.

"Child sexual exploitation wrecks young lives and we take our duty to protect children and young people extremely seriously."

Why hasn't someone written a program to teach children in elementary school the beginnings of the grooming cycle? And, as they get older, teach them the endings of the grooming cycle.

He said Staffordshire Police was supporting a campaign which launches ahead of a National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Day next Friday (18th).

Staffordshire, UK

'Baby Fight Club': Second Teacher Convicted of Child Cruelty

Kierra Spriggs. © Prince William County Police

A second Virginia day care teacher has been convicted of child cruelty, among other counts, for her part in creating an abusive atmosphere for two-year-olds in her care that prosecutors described as a "baby fight club."

Kierra Spriggs, 26, was convicted on Thursday on four felony counts of child cruelty and two misdemeanor counts of assault and battery, AP reported. She was acquitted of 14 counts, while a judge threw out three misdemeanor convictions for contributing to the delinquency of a minor because prosecutors failed to offer sufficient evidence.

A jury recommended jail sentences ranging from three to 12 months for the six counts for which she was convicted. Spriggs also faces an additional jail term of almost three years when she is officially sentenced in May.

Spriggs was on trial for her role in classroom abuse while she was a day care teacher at Minnieland Academy at the Glen in Prince William County, Virginia. In January, fellow teacher Sarah Jordan, 31, was  convicted for her part in day care abuse that included forcing toddlers to fight. Jordan was found guilty of seven felony counts and six misdemeanor counts, including assault, battery, and child cruelty. Jordan will be sentenced in May and faces up to 41 years in prison.

Sarah Jordan

Jordan and Spriggs physically and emotionally abused the children for sport during an eight-month span in 2013, state documents said. In addition to making children fight one another, state services reported that the two fed the children spicy Flamin' Hot Cheetos, called one girl ugly, and tormented children who were afraid of water by spraying a hose in their faces.

During Jordan's trial, one prosecutor said in her closing arguments that the environment cultivated by Jordan was “almost creating like a baby fight club,” doing great psychological damage to the toddlers involved.

Jordan and Spriggs were teachers in the "monkey room" at Minnieland Academy that included about 20 toddlers, ages 18 to 27 months.

Two other teachers testified that Spriggs mistreated children, encouraged twin sisters to fight one another, gleefully stepped on children's toes, snapped their hands with rubber bands, and made children cry. The teachers also testified that they told their supervisors about the problematic behavior, but no action was taken. They then notified state welfare agents, who investigated the accusations.

Parents of children in the "monkey room" said their kids, in a crucial developmental stage, began acting out and exhibited hesitation about going back to the care center. Some parents said their kids began to step on others' toes and laugh.

"That's not terrible twos. That's mimicking," prosecutor Ashleigh Landers said during the trial.

During her trial, Spriggs did not take the stand in her own defense. Her defense argued other teachers at Minnieland only testified against Spriggs following a workplace dispute. Patrick Foltz, Spriggs' attorney, questioned how making kids eat Flamin' Hot Cheetos could be shown as abusive given the prosecution did not introduce evidence to prove the food's spiciness.

"Is it felony torture if nobody's told you a Flamin' Hot Cheeto is hot? How hot is it? You don't know," Foltz said during closing arguments.

In the sentencing phase of the trial, parents described the effect of the abuse on their children. "I don't know the full extent of what happened in the monkey room, but I know it changed her," parent Traci Helmick said of her child.

James J. McCoart III, an attorney representing some of the parents involved, said families will file civil lawsuits against Minnieland "for the ongoing abuse committed upon their children."

Minnieland Academy at the Glen, located in Woodbridge, is one of 50 day care centers operated by Minnieland and is located next to the company's corporate headquarters, according to AP.