Reece Kelly baby murder case shows deadly danger of pills addiction

Just four-months-old, he was shaken to death by the father who should have moved heaven and earth to protect him.

Reece Kelly, 31, showed no emotion as he was sentenced to life in jail, with a minimum 18-year term. Dallas’s mother Georgia Wright, 23, also failed to protect her baby son. Convicted of child cruelty, she was jailed for three years.

In court, Mr Justice Dove had highlighted the insidious effect on Kelly and Wright of their addiction to opiate drugs, sourced illegally from street dealers in Workington.

“You were both continually preoccupied with obtaining prescription drugs to which you were addicted,” said the judge, highlighting their constant search for pills such as gabapentin and pregabalin.

Kelly and Wright had been trusted to care for their baby son.

“The greatest betrayal of that trust,” said the judge, “was by you, Reece Kelly, when you murdered your son by shaking him with very significant force on October 15, 2021.”

The judge also remarked that injuries found on Dallas which were caused before the fatal shaking incident – a fractured rib and a brain bleed – had been caused by Kelly.

Kelly and Wright being interview by police. (Image: Cumbria Police)

As Kelly and Wright began their sentences, Detective Superintendent Jenny Beattie gave her assessment of the tragedy.

Asked about the role of illicit drugs, she said of the tragedy: “It absolutely demonstrates the power of addiction. Don’t forget that in order for them to source these drugs there had to be dealers.

“They had to make a determined effort to get them, and they did it in exactly the same way as users of other illegal substances.

“Drugs played a significant role in this case; as the investigation continued it showed that the closer we got to the incident that led to Dallas's death the more chaotic the drug taking became.

“This shows that it doesn’t have to be drugs like heroin or cocaine which have this negative impact. There are numerous agencies out there to support people who get addicted to drugs.

“In this case, they didn’t seek that help. They prioritised their drug taking over caring for their child.”

Detective Superintendent Beattie said that the police officers who worked on the Dallas Kelly murder investigation are trained to deal with the difficult information they confront.

Detective Superintendent Jenny Beattie (Image: Cumbria Police)

“Our ultimate goal was to put Dallas at the centre of this investigation and to ensure we got justice for him,” she says.

“As an organisation, Cumbria Constabulary does give us support. But we all human and yes, of course it has an impact on us.”

Pausing to deal with the memory, the detective said that it was the lengthy video of Dallas in his cot, distressed and alone, that had most disturbed her.

The video footage was recorded on Georgia Wright’s phone as she and Kelly sat downstairs, where prosecutors say they were taking drugs.

“How can somebody leave a child who was so clearly distressed and not go to help him?” asks the officer, referring to footage which showed how Dallas was in his cot, unattended, as a TV repeatedly blared out music as theme music and film credits repeated some 60 times.

“He was left there for 53 minutes. It must have been torture. “They made a choice to just leave their child there. They were choosing to ‘care’ for their child via a video camera, not by holding him, being with him.”

The officer remarked on how Kelly at no point showed emotion over the death of his son.

Drugs and related paraphernalia found at the scene (Image: Cumbria Police)

Even as Dallas was undergoing a 90-minute brain scan at the Newcastle hospital, Kelly was busy repeatedly sending messages to his drug contacts, still desperate to get his hands on illegal street pills.

During the hearing, Wright’s barrister said she had sought help after her arrest and was now being helped to overcome her addiction.

But Mr Justice Dove left the court in do doubt that the addiction that consumed the lives of Reece Kelly and Georgia Wright was a central feature of this tragedy.

He told both defendants: “This terrible offence occurred against the extremely disturbing background of the family life which you had both established and in which you both participated.

“It is clear from the messages which were presented in evidence that during the weeks prior to Dallas’s death you were both continually preoccupied with obtaining and consuming the prescription drugs to which you were both addicted.

“The constant search for drugs to buy, ensuring that you had a supply of these drugs, and dealing with the withdrawal symptoms when you did not have them, appeared from the messages to be central to your lives.

“I have no doubt that your addiction to these drugs had a significant impact on your ability to care for your children as parents."

Describing the moment when Kelly snapped, the judge said the baby had been crying on the morning of October 15, 2021.

“As Dallas continued to cry I have no doubt that you lost your temper,” said the judge.

“In your anger, you held Dallas extremely hard around his chest and shook him very vigorously indeed. The jury were in no doubt that when you did so you intended to cause Dallas really serious injury.”

The judge said that Dallas’s injuries showed the level of violence he was subjected by his father.

“You shook your son to death,” said the judge.

“The jury were right to conclude that you murdered Dallas. This terrible offence occurred against the extremely disturbing background of the family life which you had both established and in which you both participated…

“I have no doubt that your addiction to these drugs had a significant impact on your ability to care for your [son] as parents… There were times when it seems your chaotic lifestyle, in which drugs played a central role, prevented you from properly feeding [your child].”