Marvyn Iheanacho jailed for life after murdering girlfriend's son over lost shoe

A man who battered his girlfriend's five-year-old son to death for losing a trainer has been jailed for life.

Marvyn Iheanacho will serve at least 18 years in prison for the murder of five-year-old Alex Malcolm, who was killed with "simple brute force" in a violent attack on 20 November last year.

The 39-year-old stepfather flew into a rage at Mountsfield Park in Catford, southeast London, where witnesses heard a man screaming about the loss of a shoe.

Sentencing him at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge Mark Dennis QC told Iheanacho he had a "deeply entrenched character flaw" that "leads you to overreact and lose your temper".

The judge described how "the red mist" came down upon Iheanacho in a "wholly unnecessary loss of temper".

Marvyn Iheanacho
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Marvyn Iheanacho will spend at least 18 years in prison
Alex, whose mother Lilya Breha was in a relationship with Iheanacho, suffered fatal head and stomach injuries and died in hospital two days after the attack.

Police investigating the murder later found one of the little boy's trainers in the play area of the park.

Judge Dennis said Iheanacho, who has a string of convictions for violent offences, including attacks on ex-partners and robbery, tried to "cover up" his crime, giving false accounts to paramedics, hospital staff and police.

He carried the little boy's unconscious body to a minicab office and then took him to Ms Breha's flat after the attack, despite the nearest hospital being just five minutes' walk away.

Iheanacho, from Hounslow, west London, then attacked his girlfriend when she tried to call an ambulance for her son.

She eventually managed to grab the phone as she noticed Alex was growing cold and turning blue, and had stopped breathing.

One of Alex Malcolm's trainers was found by police in a park
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One of Alex's trainers was found by police in the park
Doctors at Lewisham Hospital tried to resuscitate Alex, but he was transferred to King's College Hospital after a scan revealed severe brain swelling.

He was pronounced dead following an unsuccessful operation on 22 November.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, Ms Breha described her son as a "beautiful little angel" and said she felt her own life had ended with his.

"Nothing will ever be the same without Alex," she said.

In his own statement, Alex's father said: "Just thinking about what's happened and trying to put words on paper is tearing me apart."