Get you up to speed: Mum and partner sentenced for fatal assault on son, 2, resulting in brain damage
Zoe Coutts and Scott O’Connor were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to a total of 27 years for inflicting life-threatening injuries on her son, Kol Page.
Detective Chief Inspector Kate Blackburn emphasised Kol Page’s tragic case highlights severe failures in safeguarding vulnerable children within their own homes.
Kol Page’s mother, Zoe Coutts, and her boyfriend, Scott O’Connor, were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court for their roles in his tragic abuse and death.
What we know so far
A mother and her boyfriend have been sentenced to a total of 27 years in prison for the brutal injuries inflicted on her two-year-old son, Kol Page. The pair was found guilty after Kol was discovered not breathing, with extensive bruises and a serious abdominal injury in April 2022.
Zoe Coutts, 35, received a ten-year sentence, while her boyfriend Scott O’Connor, 36, was sentenced to 18 years. The couple attempted to mislead medical staff and law enforcement regarding the circumstances of Kol’s injuries, which prosecutors described as injuries typically associated with a serious road traffic accident.
Kol, who suffered catastrophic brain damage, lived for two additional years requiring constant care before passing away in June 2024. His foster parents, who supported him through his recovery, expressed their heartbreak, stating, “I see him as my child; I may not have given birth to him, but I see him as my son.”
Detective Chief Inspector Kate Blackburn, who led the investigation, emphasised the tragic nature of Kol’s story, noting, “He was an innocent little boy who suffered horrific abuse in the place where he should have been safest.” The case serves as a stark reminder of the failures to protect vulnerable children.
Read in full
Mum and boyfriend jailed over fatal attack on son, 2, that left him brain damaged | News UK
A mum and her boyfriend have been sentenced to 27 years in jail for inflicting injuries on her two-year-old son equivalent to a car crash.
Kol Page was found not breathing, with bruises over his face an injury to his abdomen in April 2022.
His mum Zoe Coutts and her boyfriend Scott O’Connor tried to trick medics and detectives into how Kol was so injured.
He spent two years trying to recover after suffering catastrophic brain damage, leaving him needing round-the-clock care.
His foster parents moved into the hospital with him, but he died two years later in June 2024.
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Kol’s foster parents said: ‘He was in so much pain. He would cry out in pain so much. You could hear him from the lifts as you walked into the hospital.
‘It was so hard to comfort him, I wanted to cuddle him but it would cause him too much pain.’
Kol Page was subjected to escalating violence while in the couple’s care.
Prosecutors said the extent of his injuries were usually ‘seen in a serious road traffic accident or a fall from a height onto a hard object’.
O’Connor, 36, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to 18 years’ imprisonment.
Coutts, 35, was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.
His foster parents said: ‘I immediately fell in love with him. I knew he needed someone to be there for him, to protect him.
‘I see him as my child; I may not have given birth to him, but I see him as my son. I am blessed to have been able to have looked after Kol for the time I did.’
Detective Chief Inspector Kate Blackburn, whose homicide team led the investigation, said: ‘Kol was an innocent little boy who suffered horrific abuse in the place where he should have been safest – at home with his mother.
‘Coutts and her boyfriend, O’Connor, tried to deceive paramedics, doctors and police officers, repeating lie after lie about how Kol came to be so seriously injured.
‘Kol was boisterous, cheeky and endlessly loving to everyone who knew him. He should have had a bright future, but was instead let down by those who should have protected him most. He will always be remembered.’