Let me die, says mother as child’s killer gets life

THE mother of a little boy beaten to death by her violent lover for losing a shoe told a court yesterday: “I want to die too.”

Heartbroken Lilya Breha, 30, spoke of her agony as brute Marvyn Iheanacho was jailed for life for the murder of defenceless fiveyear-old Alex Malcolm.

Ms Breha said in an emotional impact statement: “Every single day I cry, thinking about him.

“I ask God to take me too, or not to wake up from my sleep so I can hear his voice again. My life ended when Alex died.”

Iheanacho, 39, who has a string of previous convictions for violence, flew into an uncontrollable rage after child model Alex lost one of his trainers while chasing foxes in a park.

He repeatedly punched the boy in the face, neck and body, slamming him against a metal fence while screaming about the shoe.

Horrified witnesses heard Alex whimper, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” as he was mercilessly battered.

Although a hospital was only a few minutes’ walk away Iheanacho took Alex home in a taxi.

When Ms Breha tried to call an ambulance the killer attacked her too and spent two hours calmly smoking cigarettes.

The mum eventually managed to dial 999 after Alex’s face turned blue and he stopped breathing.

He never regained consciousness and died two days later from bleeding on the brain. A post mortem showed 22 areas of bruising and an abdominal injury.

Iheanacho had denied murdering Alex in Mountsfield Park, near the boy’s home in Catford, south London, last November.

In conflicting lies intended to protect himself he claimed Alex had tripped, slipped off a climbing frame or fallen down a bank.

While in jail awaiting trial he even rang Ms Breha trying to persuade Murderer Iheanacho, above left, distraught mother Lilya Breha and tragic five-year-old child model Alex Malcolm. Left, a photograph issued by the police of one of Alex’s trainers at his South London home her to back him up. Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court found him guilty last week and he was sentenced yesterday.

Judge Mark Dennis, QC, told Iheanacho, of Hounslow, west London, he must serve a minimum of 18 years before parole.

Iheanacho, who survived being shot in the chest in 2002, suffered from a “deeply entrenched character flaw” which made him lose his temper for no reason.

Judge Dennis said a “red mist” came down when Alex’s shoe fell off and he used his “undoubted strength and simple brute force”.

The judge said Alex was defenceless against such an “overpowering figure”, adding: “The child had done nothing that would justify any loss of temper.”

The judge said Iheanacho had given fake accounts to paramedics, hospital staff and police cover up what he had done.

The trial revealed the thug’s appalling record which included attacks on five former girlfriends, one of whom was punched unconscious and had her jaw smashed.

Iheanacho once battered Alex for being car sick and attacked a 13-year-old boy who tried to stop him beating up a woman.

Alex’s father Leroy Malcolm said in a statement: “I will never forget seeing him in hospital fighting for his life. That image will stay with me forever.”

Later Ms Breha said she hoped the killer would never be freed.

The anguished mother told how she was constantly reminded of Alex, saying: “Everywhere I go, everywhere I look I see him, climbing, jumping, screaming my name. It has broken my heart.” to