A MAN who murdered his ex-girlfriend’s autistic two-year-old son has been jailed for a 25 years. 

Kyrell Matthews died in October 2019 and was found with 41 rib fractures and internal injuries, after he was subjected to horrific abuse by his mum’s partner Kemar Brown. 

Earlier this month Brown, 28, was found guilty of murder and last week he was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison.

The little boy’s mother, Phylesia Shirley, 24, of Brensham Manor Road, Thornton Heath, was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 13 years. 

Kyrell was non-verbal and suffered regular beatings in the months leading up to his death, before he was found in cardiac arrest at his home in Thornton Heath, south London, three years ago. 

The abuse was captured on recordings believed to be set up by Shirley, who was attempting to check if Brown was cheating on her, but instead it recorded her two-year-old son being physically abused. 

In one distressing recording, Brown is heard telling Kyrell “you have to ruin the fun” and to “shut up.”

Another recording captured Shirley hitting her son, which caused him to cry. 

During the trial, Edward Brown QC told the jury at the Old Bailey, Shirley put her relationship with Brown before her own child. 

“The truth is that his death came when once more he was abused in that flat, once more in a very similar way, causing very similar injuries, except on this occasion it was so much more serious, the abuse and the results were catastrophic,” Mr Brown said.

Detective Chief Inspector Kate Kieran, of the Met’s Specialist Crime said the toddler was treated “like a punchbag in the gym” by Brown, who would hurt the child “almost for fun”.  

The court also heard that Shirley was being emotionally and physically abused by Brown and lawyers argued she was “vulnerable” and Brown, would follow her “like a shadow”.

Samantha Yelland, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a violent, determined and repeated pattern of assaults against a defenceless young child. Kyrell Matthews would have been in significant discomfort in the days before his death, and tragically he would have died in pain.

“As a mother, Phylesia Shirley should have protected him, but instead along with her partner, she subjected him to countless assaults in their own home.

“Jurors were presented with harrowing audio recordings of what took place in the home with both Brown and Shirley clearly involved in the physical abuse of the young toddler. I hope these convictions have brought some sense of justice to those who loved and cared for Kyrell.”

Kyrell’s family said: “Kyrell – you were robbed of the life God had intended for you. Our family have been robbed of the joys of watching your grow up and seeing what you would have become. You have left a void in our hearts that will never be filled. We carry you in our hearts forever.”

On Sunday, 20 October 2019 Kyrell’s mother, phoned the non-emergency NHS helpline and told them Kyrell was ill. She told them he was having trouble breathing and was advised to carry out CPR.

The London Ambulance Service arrived just 12 minutes later, but they could not detect a heartbeat. 

Kyrell was rushed to hospital, despite extensive efforts to revive him, the little boy was pronounced dead at 16.15pm.

According to the police, Kyrell had died as a result of trauma to his abdomen that had torn his liver, probably as a result of squeezing, crushing or blows and he also had five broken ribs.

The couple are understood to have been visited by social services at least once.

Jurors were not told that Kyrell suffered an injury to the side of his face in May 2019, five months before his death, and spent five days in Croydon University hospital.

The hospital did investigate and found his mother’s explanation that Kyrell had fallen off the sofa and hit his head on a highchair as “plausible”, police said.

Also during the trial, jurors were not told about a domestic incident, where police were called but no offences were identified and Kyrell was said to have appeared “safe and well”.

On 17 July 2019, a passer-by alerted officers after hearing screaming and shouting coming from their flat, with a female voice saying: “Stop hitting my face.”

Kyrell was described as “the most loving little boy, always smiling” by his paternal step-grandmother Christine Ernest.