CANTERBURY JURY CONVICTS TYLA WHARMBY OF MURDERING HUNTER HODGES

A jury at Canterbury Crown Court found Tyla Wharmby guilty of murdering Hunter Hodges, his girlfriend’s three-month-old son. Hunter died on 15 July 2022 after suffering severe head trauma. The jury also found Wharmby guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The verdict followed a three-week trial in which jurors heard medical evidence about the force that caused Hunter’s injuries.

Medical experts told the jury that Hunter had suffered a skull fracture and damage to nerve fibres deep inside his brain. They said the injuries were consistent with someone throwing him forcibly onto the floor or against a solid, upright surface. The experts described Hunter as “vulnerable and very small” and said the effects of the trauma would have been “immediate, very obvious and profound”. They compared those effects with injuries seen in high-speed motor vehicle collisions.

Hunter weighed a little over 10lb and had been born eight weeks prematurely. Wharmby was not his biological father. The prosecution accused Wharmby of inflicting the injuries after he “snapped” in frustration at Hunter’s crying. The jury’s murder verdict followed its consideration of that allegation and the medical evidence presented at Canterbury Crown Court.