Alfie Lamb death: Mum 'let down' son over car seat death - BBC News
Adrian Hoare and Stephen Waterson both deny the manslaughter of three-year-old Alfie Lamb.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. CCTV of the group during the shopping trip in Sutton was shown in court

A mother accused of not helping her three-year-old son as he was crushed by her boyfriend's car seat has told a court she had let down her son.

Alfie Lamb was found unresponsive and later died following a car journey in south London on 1 February last year.

The boy's mother Adrian Hoare, 23, told the Old Bailey she would have moved Alfie "if I thought there was a serious problem".

She and her partner Stephen Waterson, 25, both deny manslaughter.

Mr Waterson is accused of pushing the front passenger seat of his Audi into Alfie twice during the journey from Sutton to Croydon.

In court, prosecutors accused Ms Hoare of putting her boyfriend first before her son as their relationship was "too important".

Jurors were shown CCTV of the three-year-old apparently having to run to keep up with her and Mr Waterson as they walked along an alleyway and into Asda.

Referring to the footage, Duncan Atkinson QC asked Ms Hoare why her son was having to run and "what allowances were you making for Alfie's little legs?".

The defendant denied she put what her partner wanted first, saying that it was "just the way I walk" and "Alfie always runs."

Alfie Lamb had been in the rear footwell of the Audi with another child during the trip

When asked why she had not taken her son out of the footwell and comforted him when he was "crying", "screaming", and "coughing", Ms Hoare said she could have "but Stephen said we was all going together."

Mr Atkinson later asked whether "looking back on it now, do you feel you let Alfie down?", to which Ms Hoare replied: "Yes."

Earlier, Mr Waterson's lawyer suggested the car seat had nothing to do with the toddler's injuries and Miss Hoare must have "done something".

This was denied by the 23-year-old.

Mr Waterson has told the court he only moved his seat back an inch, before moving forwards again

Ms Hoare denies manslaughter, child cruelty and common assault on Emilie Williams, who was also in the car.

Mr Waterson denies manslaughter and the intimidation of the car's driver Marcus Lamb.

The couple and 19-year-old Ms Williams have pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice by making false statements to police.

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