In 2016, 340 children were adopted in Wales. Ten month old Shayla O’Brien was one of those 340 children.
Like most children put up for adoption, Shayla had entered this world under difficult circumstances. Born to a drug-addicted mother, she was added to the child protection register at birth, in November 2014. She left hospital when she was five days old and she was quickly taken into care by the Vale of Glamorgan council, before being placed with a foster family, where she remained until she was placed with an adoptive family in September 2015, at the age of ten months.
This adoptive family consisted of two parents, Craig and Matthew Scully-Hicks, and a previously adopted older child. Matthew assumed the majority of the caring responsibilities for Shayla, and she remained as a 'looked after child' following her placement with the family until the making of the Adoption Order. The Adoption Order was granted in May 2016 and Shayla’s name was changed to Elsie. She was now officially a member of the Scully-Hicks family.
This should have been the beginning of a happier life for Elsie, a life filled with love and opportunity…
But it wasn’t to be. Just two weeks after the official adoption had been granted, Elsie would lie dead in her bed at the University of Wales Hospital, having suffered a catalogue of catastrophic injuries at the hands of Matthew Scully-Hicks.
Just what happened to baby Elise...
Join us as we take a deep dive into this disturbing and tragic case.
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