A MUM who beat her five-year-old son to death and poisoned him with pills before making a chilling confession has been jailed.

Claire Scanlon, 38, claimed she found Dylan dead after he fell from the attic at home while chasing the dog on New Year's Eve 2021.

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.

She has now been jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years after being convicted of murder at Minshull Street Crown Court.

Coward Scanlon, who has brain condition Huntington's Disease, refused to attend court and was sentenced in her absence.

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In a victim impact statement, Dylan's dad Gary Keenan paid tribute to his "happy, funny, cheeky little boy who enjoyed life".

He said: "I feel mentally and physically drained by everything that's happened.

"I hold a lot of guilt, I constantly feel like I could have done things different.

"Christmas was one of Dylan's favourite times of the year. The hardest thing I've done was to give his presents away to a boy of a similar age to Dylan.

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"There will always be a massive whole in our hearts.

"It's still really hard to accept that we will never see him again."

Dylan's older brother Shawn told how he at first thought there had been an accident until he learnt his mum had killed the youngster.

He said: "When I found out the truth, I felt betrayed by my mum.

"I was angry, hateful and disgusted.

"She [Scanlon] showed no remorse of what she had done.

"My final words are this: Mum, I'm sure you are sorry for the hurt you have caused to us all, and I love you because you are my mum.

"You know Dylan will never have the chance to have family, and you know that. You will never know the man he would've become because he was taken away by you."

Jurors heard Scanlon had run to her uncle's home nearby and told him Dylan was not breathing or moving following the horror.

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 confession.

Police also 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.

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.

Following the case, Nicola Carter, senior crown prosecutor for North West CPS said: "Claire Scanlon's role as a parent was to love and protect her son from harm, but she took the ultimate step to take her young son Dylan away from her ex-partner.

"She initially told her family that a ladder had fallen on Dylan, then a short time later she told a paramedic that he had fallen down some steps. The truth was that she had deliberately poisoned and beaten him.

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"I would like to offer my sincere sympathies to Dylan's loved ones including his grandfather, father and brother who gave evidence at the trial. They not only have to come to terms with his loss, but also the manner in which he died."

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