Mum’s chilling ‘confession’ to medics after she ‘beat son, 5, to death and poisoned him with pills’
A MUM who beat her five-year-old son to death and poisoned him with medication told medics: “I killed him”, a court heard.
Claire Scanlon, 38, claimed she found Dylan dead after he fell from the attic at home in Oldham on New Year‘s Eve 2021.
Jurors were told the mum later told a hospital worker she had dropped him from the height, adding: “I killed him”.
In reality, Scanlon had battered the youngster – causing 64 separate injuries – before poisoning him with antidepressants, it is said.
She then ran to her uncle’s home nearby and told him Dylan was not breathing or moving.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard a murder probe was launched after Dylan’s lifeless body was discovered in a double bed by relatives.
Officers found a note, saying: “Don’t let them see us, just cremate us”.
Scanlon was detained under the mental health act and taken to Edenfield Hospital in Prestwich where she made the alleged confession.
Jurors heard how police found a large number of “angry” voicemails to her ex-partner, Gary Keenan.
Scanlon claimed he had left her for another woman while she struggled to live “emotionally, practically and financially” as a single mum.
In one voicemail, she said: “I promise you, you won’t see him again. You’ll see. Bye. Go and enjoy your life”.
On December 27, she left a message saying: “I promise you now, carry on treating me like a k**b h**d, I promise you’re never gonna see my son again”.
She added: “Treat me like a d**k, I’ll stop you from going near him”.
Scanlon had been prescribed Mirtazapine for her history of depression and anxiety but had stopped taking the medication around five months before Dylan’s death, it was said.
Despite this, on December 20, 2021, she picked up a fresh prescription.
A toxicology report found that Dylan had up to 9951 milligrams of the drug within a litre of blood.
The court was told this was nine times the fatal limit in adults.
Scanlon denies murder, an alternative charge of manslaughter and child cruelty.
The trial continues.