Police bodycam and interrogation footage has revealed how a teenage baby killer smiled as he was questioned by police and called officers “boring” in a video that helped lead to his conviction.
Carl Alesbrook, now 19, will be sentenced to life in prison for shaking four-month-old baby Elijah Shemwell to death in January 2022.
At the age of 16, Alesbrook shook his then partner’s son so badly he suffered “catastrophic” brain damage and broken bones.
Alesbrook, from Matlock in Derbyshire, denied causing harm to Elijah but was unanimously found guilty of murder and grievous bodily harm with intent by the jury at Derby Crown Court on July 11.
A video of his first contact with police and subsequent interviews showed Alesbrook admitting to leaving the baby unattended and taking drugs before he was supposed to care for the toddler.
He often cared for Elijah while the baby’s mother, India Shemwell, was at work.
Shemwell, now 23, was described at her ex-partner’s trial as “a totally inadequate mother” who neglected Elijah generally and specifically and failed to seek prompt medical care for him on January 1 and 2, 2022.
Alesbrook’s violent outbursts left little Elijah with brain bleeding, whiplash-type injuries and multiple bone fractures between November 2021 and January 2022.
He Elijah Shemwell, helpless, said he was “a bit of an idiot” and complained that the baby kept spitting out his pacifier.
After 999 was called on January 2, Elijah was taken by paramedics to hospital where he died three days later, on January 5.
The jury also saw CCTV footage showing Shemwell visiting a shop and buying milk and Coca-Cola on the night of the fatal attack.
India Shemwell pleaded guilty to two counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 – one between December 31, 2021 and January 1, 2022, and the second on January 2, 2022.
She and Alesbrook will both be sentenced at a yet-to-be-set date in the fall.
High Court Judge Jeremy Baker excused jurors from jury duty for the next decade.
He told Alesbrook: “There is only one sentence that can be imposed but part of that sentence will be determining the minimum time you will have to serve.”
Below are seven shocking moments from Alesbrook’s interactions with police…
1) KILLER DESCRIBES THE MOLLIFICITY OF THE BABY
After two female officers entered his apartment, the 16-year-old described how limp little Elijah’s arms were.
The killer said: “He was fine, and then last night India and I both thought he had toothache.
“He practically screamed for a good hour and then he came into a state of consciousness, but he wasn’t.
“His eyes were partially open, but if you lifted his arm, he would just fall over.
“He was breathing, it was like he was there but he wasn’t, and we just gave him time to come back, go back to sleep and then he was fine.
“He did it again earlier.”
2) ADMITS THAT THE BABY WAS LEFT UNATTENDED
Officers asked who was looking after the baby while his mother was out and Alesbrook was asleep.
One of the officers asked, “So when [India Shemwell] and you said you were sleeping, who was watching over you? [the baby]?’
The murderer replied: “He was sleeping himself. He woke me up crying.”
The policewoman said, “Well, so no one was really watching him at that time.”
3) LIES THEN ADMITS TO SMOKING CANNABIS
By this point, the teenage killer had removed his hoodie to reveal a gold watch and a blue t-shirt.
When asked if he had taken drugs, his first reaction was to lie.
“No,” he said, before adding, “Um, I mean, honestly, I smoked a joint earlier when I was out.”
The police officer confirmed with the young killer that it was a cannabis joint that he had smoked.
4) KILLER: “A HELL OF A START TO THE YEAR”
While an officer was talking to her bosses, Alesbrook went downstairs to “smoke a cigarette.”
After lighting his cigarette, the teenager who shook baby Elijah so violently he died said: “It’s been quite a start to the year already.
“I had toothache, so I ended up taking codeine to try to numb the pain, and I ended up throwing up at three in the morning the first night of the year.”
“And then the second night, the kid.”
5) KILLER LAUGHTER ON THE PHONE
When a woman called him on his cell phone, he laughed and joked about emergency services.
The sick thug swore as he walked the streets while puffing on his cigarette.
The killer said, “Jesus Christ, damn it.”
He laughed and added: “The police, the ambulance. You want a fire truck too?”
6) SWEARING DURING AN INTERVIEW WITH THE POLICE
During his interview with the police, the officers said: “You confirmed [to the police officers] you sent a message saying “where are you?”
“It was a lie. There is no message saying, ‘Where are you?'”
“We checked your phone and it wasn’t confirmed. What do you have to say about that?”
Leaning back with his head against the wall, the killer replied, “Fuck.”
7) He calls the police “boring”
A police officer told Alesbrook: “You repeated the same story in subsequent interviews with police that you were sleeping in India’s flat on January 2 and you were unaware that India had left the flat.
“You were also asked to confirm your previous stories today during the interview and again you initially maintained the same story that you were asleep and then changed that story today when presented with evidence that you no longer remember it.
‘What do you have to say about this?
The killer replied, “I’m saying you’re boring, man.”
