Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Killer starts ‘I’m innocent’ web page from cell Mum’s fury at sick Facebook plea
THE mum of a murdered boy has told of her fury after a Facebook page was set up claiming the jailed thug who killed him is innocent.
A phone was f ound i n Marvyn Iheanacho’s cell and a message on the social media site declared: “Freedom is a must… Not guilty 100.”
The 41-year-old beat Alex Malcolm, five, to death six months after being released on licence from a prison term for assaulting five exes. It followed a string of probation blunders, that included not telling the boy’s mum Liliya about his violent past when he
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started dating her. The distraught 33-year-old said of the Facebook page: “When I saw it I was really upset. After all the mistakes in my case they are still happening.
“Ho w c a n h e b e a l l o w e d to communicate with people from prison?
“It’s shocking. I have been trying to make a change and this happens. To see him on Facebook claiming he is innocent. It’s blown my mind.”
Liliya complained to the Ministry of
Justice two weeks ago after spotting the page. Sources said around a week later a phone was found in Iheanacho’s cell.
The Prison Service said: “We apologise for the distress caused. The page is being taken down and the offender will be punished.”
MOJ officials also said sorry last year after an inquest found a “series of i ndividual failures by probation officers, coupled with inadequate support and supervision” contributed to Alex’s death. Coroner Andrew Harris said increased workloads and understaf fing i n the part-privatised service, plus shortages of approved hostel places for ex-cons, were factors.
Iheanacho killed Alex after the boy lost one of his trainers at a park in Catford, South East London, i n 2016. The brute, from Hounslow in West London, was jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years. It was later increased to a minimum of 21.
Ukrainian Liliya faced more heartache when told she faced deportion because the death of British-born Alex meant she no longer had a family tie to the UK.