Declan’s death destroyed us... his lying mother should be here
Grandmother tells probe of anguish
THE distraught grandmother of Declan Hainey, whose mummified remains were found in his rubbish-strewn cot, yesterday told the inquiry into his death that she ‘loved that baby’.
Elizabeth Rodden told the opening day of the Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) that she last saw the toddler on his first birthday.
Declan’s heroin addict mother, Kimberley Hainey, was jailed in 2012 for his murder but the conviction was quashed because of problems with expert evidence led by the Crown.
Opening the FAI at Paisley Sheriff Court, Sheriff Ruth Anderson said the process was a fact-finding exercise, aiming to find out what happened and, if appropriate, allow her to make certain recommendations in the future.
Hainey, 39, was jailed for life in January 2012 and ordered to serve a minimum of 15 years after being convicted of murder.
The child’s mummified body was found in his cot at his home i n Paisley, Renfrewshire, in March 2010 – eight months after he was last seen alive.
But in April last year, appeal court judges overturned Hainey’s convictions f or murder and
‘She would tell us wee stories’
attempting to evade justice after finding serious problems with expert evidence.
Following the ruling, the Crown Office said it would not be seeking a retrial.
Yesterday, Mrs Rodden, 57, of Renfrew, sobbed as she said she last saw Declan on his first birthday in April 2009 – 11 months before he was found dead.
She branded her daughter a liar and, pausing repeatedly to compose herself, she said Hainey should be on the stand.
She told Paisley Sheriff Court: ‘This death of Declan has actually destroyed us. I didn’t expect this terrible thing to happen.’
She added: ‘ She [ Hainey] ruined her family with her lies and deceit. We loved that baby – I can’t answer to her ways of thinking.’
She said that i nitially, her daughter would visit her regularly and that Declan would always be there as he went ‘everywhere she went.’
But she added that, as time passed, Hainey began to visit without her son.
Mrs Rodden said: ‘We were desperate to have him overnight but she wouldn’t leave him with us.’
Mrs Rodden said she used to make up meals for Declan and would freeze them. She said that Hainey would come and pick them up, along with nappies they had bought her and money they were giving her towards her electricity bill.
Distraught as she spoke of the last time Declan stayed with her – Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2008 – she said: ‘After that, he never stayed with us again. I would ask Kim and she would say, “Declan’s fine, mum”, but it was obviously just a made-up story. She would say he was with the neighbour.’
She told fiscal depute Stuart Cassidy: ‘She would tell us wee stories about what Declan did that week... but it obviously wasn’t true.’
The court heard that Hainey could be in her mother’s home for up to four hours at a time, saying that Declan was at playgroup or was being looked after by someone she knew.
The Fatal Accident Inquiry, before Sheriff Anderson, continues.