A stepfather who battered a five-year-old boy to death over a lost trainer in a public park could spend life behind bars.

Alex Malcolm was brutally attacked by his mother's boyfriend, Marvyn Iheanacho from Hounslow, known to the boy as "Daddy Mills".

Iheanacho's various accounts of Alex's injuries, including that he fell off a climbing frame, were rejected by the jury who convicted him at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday (July 21).

Witnesses described hearing Alex's fearful voice saying "sorry" followed by loud banging and the 39-year-old man screaming about the loss of a shoe in Mountsfield Park, Catford on November 20 last year.

Notes written by Marvyn Iheanacho under the heading "mistakes"

Alex died in hospital two days later after suffering fatal head and stomach injuries. His shoe was later found in the play area by police.

Alex's mother Lilya Breha nodded and quietly wept as the jury unanimously convicted her ex-boyfriend for the murder of her son.

"Alex was so small but he was my strength and my purpose for living," she said.

"The hardest thing I have ever had to hear, was that my child died. I remember it like it was yesterday.

"Lying next to him in a hospital and praying that everything would be fine, that he will open his eyes.

"I didn’t even get to tell him I love him. All I got was to put my hand on his chest and feel every single one of his final heartbeats."

The Hounslow man has a string of previous convictions for violent crimes including robbery and attacks on ex-partners.

Judge Mark Dennis QC deferred sentence until Tuesday (July 25) but Iheanacho could face a life sentence for the brutal attack.

Alex Malcom's coat

A chilling extract from Iheanacho's diary revealed that he had beaten the boy on a previous occasion.

"Do I really love Alex, five years old small cute lil boy.

"Who want nothing more, than daddy mills to love him protect him but most of all keep him from harm - even though I had to beat him just now for sicking up in the cab - why why why I say - so the answer is yes yes yes I love him and like with all my heart but may not enough."

Alex's head, neck, and body were covered with bruises after the fatal attack.

Marvyn Iheanacho has previous convictions for violent crime

Iheanacho carried Alex's bruised, unconscious body to a minicab office and took him to Ms Breha's flat, even though the nearest hospital was just a five-minute walk away.

Ms Breha has described how he then attacked her when she tried to call an ambulance.

She said she started screaming when she saw Alex was "unconscious and his face was disgusting".

She told the court that she kept on shouting at Iheanacho: "What have you done?" but in return received "hardest punch I had in my life".

She then told the jury that he "tried to strangle me, pretty much his intention was to try kill me, is all I can say".

During this attack Ms Breha noticed Alex's face turning blue and his breathing stop and grabbed the phone.

Police officers found Alex's shoe, over which he lost his life, in the park

The boy was taken to Lewisham Hospital where doctors tried to resuscitate him, but a CT scan revealed brain swelling so he was transferred to King's College Hospital.

Two days after the attack, on November 22, he died after an unsuccessful operation.

One of Alex's shoes found at his mother's flat

Iheanacho had started dating Alex's mother in June that year and the court heard how she had thought he would be a good father figure.

Rob Davis, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Only Marvyn Iheanacho knows how Alex was fatally wounded, but it is certain his anger boiled over at some point that day.

'The prosecution case was that a witness heard Iheanacho swearing at a child over a shoe that had been lost in the nearby park. He was heard repeatedly and violently punching a gate.

"Later in the park another witness saw Alex lying prone on a bench. CCTV showed Iheanacho carrying Alex’s body to a cab office.

"His actions that day tragically ended a young boy’s life, and deprived a mother of her son.

"His efforts to cover up what really happened, first to Alex’s mother by claiming Alex had simply fainted and hit his head, then by lying and repeatedly changing his story to police, show his greatest concern was for himself.

"Our thoughts go to Alex’s mother and family and we hope today’s conviction brings them some sense of justice."

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