Grandmother of murdered baby girl calls for death penalty for killer adopted dad

Fitness instructor Matthew Scully-Hicks was jailed for life and told he will serve a minimum of 18 years

Matthew Scully-Hicks was found guilty of the murder of baby Elsie, who he had legally adopted with his husband just two weeks earlier (PA)

A grieving grandmother has called for the death penalty for the adoptive father who killed her baby granddaughter.

Sian O’Brien, 51, the natural grandmother of murdered 18-month-old Elsie Scully-Hicks, believes Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, "got off quite lightly" with a life sentence

“It’s about justice for Shayla”, said Ms O’Brien, using the name Elsie was given at birth.

Elsie died on May 29, 2016, having been adopted just a fortnight earlier by Scully-Hicks his husband, Craig Scully-Hicks, 36, following a seven-month period of fostering. The court decided that Matthew Scully Hicks had shaken Elsie, and she died four days later. He was handed a life jail sentence and told he will serve a minimum of 18 years.

Asked in an interview with the Sun if he should pay for the crime with his life, Ms O'Brien replied: “He should have.”

Baby Elsie was taken into care from her mother Jemma – Sian’s daughter – when she was just five days old in November 2014.

Ms O’Brien has adopted Elsie’s older brother and sister, and wanted to do the same for the baby girl, beginning legal proceedings to become her guardian in January 2015 but the proceedings were not completed.

Ms O'Brien has called on people to sign a Facebook petition - which has gathered more than 4,000 signatures - urging the Government to hold an independent investigation into adoption and fostering, where the natural family is not giving up a child voluntarily.

Scully-Hicks was found guilty of murder last week following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court. He had denied the charge and said the fatal injuries must have been caused by an accident.

A pathologist found the little girl's injuries, including haemorrhaging to the retinas, were “very typical” of a shaken baby, with a post-mortem revealing Elsie had also suffered broken ribs, a fractured skull and left thigh bone.​

In a statement given to the court – which was not read out during the trial but has now been made public – Sian O’Brien said: “I accept that at the time of giving birth my daughter was living a chaotic lifestyle and was not in a position to care for Shayla and she was removed from the hospital five days after birth by social services.”

Ms O’Brien and other members of Elsie’s natural family continued to have contact with her while she was in foster care, before she began legal proceedings to become her legal guardian.

“I wanted to bring her up in a happy, healthy and warm family environment, that was all taken away from me when social services and the family court decided I would not be able to cope.“

When Elsie was formally adopted by the Scully-Hicks in May 2015, the natural family was no longer allowed to have contact.

They were visited by social services in January 2017 and told that Elsie had died just two weeks after she was adopted.

"In itself this was devastating news but to then be informed that one of the parents who had adopted her had been charged with murder and was allegedly responsible for her death was completely incomprehensible,“ Ms O'Brien added in her statement to the court.

Elsie’s case will be examined as part of a child practice review, which takes place as a matter of course whenever a child dies or is seriously injured and abuse or neglect are believed to have been involved.