Mum who killed her autistic son, 5, after struggling to cope jailed for 9 years | UK | News

The mother who strangled her autistic son and then tried to kill herself by struggling against difficulties was sentenced to at least nine years in prison for the murder.

During the hearing at Basildon Crown Court, it was learned that 36-year-old Claire Button killed her five-year-old son Lincoln Button and left a note saying “He doesn’t fit into the world and I don’t fit into where he doesn’t fit in.”

Button, of Windstar Drive in South Ockendon, Essex, who struggled with his mental health and tried to seek help, denied his son’s murder on December 15 last year but was found guilty by a jury.

He had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Sentencing at the same court on Friday, Judge Samantha Leigh sentenced Button to a minimum of nine years in prison, which he must serve before being released.

Button wiped tears from his eyes during the hearing.

The judge described the hearing as “one of the most difficult cases I have heard in almost 30 years” and said that Button was described at the hearing as “a loving, caring mother to her son”.

He said Lincoln was “really challenging with his autism,” was non-verbal and had outbursts and meltdowns.

He said he “sometimes wanted to go out 10 to 15 times a day” to ride his scooter and that on the day of the incident, he had a nervous breakdown in a supermarket where he was “obsessed” with the sliding doors.

The judge said Button decided to end his and her life when she returned to the family home with Lincoln.

“He was desperate and couldn’t see a way out of what was going on,” he said.

He said Button had “asked for help several times” as he had been struggling with his mental health in the previous months, and that day he “called an ambulance but was told there was a 10-hour wait”.

The judge said Button killed Lincoln, then overdosed on pills and slit his wrists.

“If her husband had not returned home, there is no doubt she would have died too,” she said.

He said the murder was “not premeditated” and Button “had difficulty dealing with Lincoln”.

“The stress he was experiencing at the time in relation to this offense was made worse by the unavailability of emergency services,” the judge said.

He said Button had written to him and said “not a day goes by that he doesn’t think about or long for his son and wish there was a way to turn back time.”

“I think it’s very significant that he received more attention from outside than he did after being sent to prison for mental health reasons,” the judge said.

He said Button “first went to hospital last August to get help” but was “prescribed medication and sent away”.

He described the “only two phone calls made to him” as “completely inadequate.”

The judge described Button’s husband, Nicky Button, as a “broken man” who had “lost his son, lost the wife he was there for and still loves”.

Prosecutor Andrew Jackson said Mr Button had asked for his victim impact statement not to be read in court.

“Perhaps the strongest mitigating factor was the mental impairment he suffered at the time he committed the offense and the stress he was subjected to at the time, but this proved insufficient for a partial defense of diminished responsibility,” he said.

Mark Cotter KC, mitigating, said Button had previously been of good character.

“It’s clear he went above and beyond in trying to get evaluations to get help,” he said.

Mr Cotter continued: “He was clearly under significant, if not great, stress at the time of the incident.”

He said at the time that Button “believed he was acting out of compassion, even if it was irrational.”

The judge said: “In my opinion there is no further risk.”