A mother has revealed her horror after the ‘evil scumbag’ who killed her six-month-old son appeared as a suggested Facebook friend.
Sherwain Smith killed Troy, the son of his then partner Danielle Simpson, from his cot in February 2006 and dumped him in a brook near his home in Smethwick, West Midlands.
The little boy’s body was later found wrapped in a bin bag – but convicted sex offender Smith is the only one who will ever know how he was killed, as pathologists could not determine a cause of death.
Smith, then 21, was found guilty of manslaughter after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Danielle Simpson has revealed her horror after the ‘evil scumbag’ who killed her six-month-old baby son appeared as a suggested Facebook friend
Ms Simpson was 17 when her son Troy was killed by then partner Sherwain Smith, in 2006. Pictured, Ms Simpson (left) and her mother Theresa Simpson holding a picture of Troy in 2006
He was given an indefinite Imprisonment for Public Protection jail sentence and ordered to serve a minimum of nearly four years in April 2007.
Now, Smith appears on social media with a selfie from a hospital as his profile photo.
Furious Ms Simpson, 33, who relives the ordeal ‘every minute of the day’, says he has been allowed to ‘live a normal life’.
She said: ‘He’s on Facebook — and he’s a baby killer. It needs to be put out there that he’s Sherwain Smith and he killed my baby.
‘I’ve got to live with it for the rest of my life. Four months after he was killed I went and saw my son — he was rotting.
‘I wanted to go and say bye to my son. He made me look at my baby when he was dead on a slab. I’m left with that now and he’s allowed out of jail and to do normal things; is this f*****g real?’
Troy (pictured) was taken from his cot in February 2006 and dumped him in a brook near his home in Smethwick, West Midlands. His body was later found wrapped in a bin bag
Smith, who denied any involvement in Troy’s death, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.
The cannabis addict was also told he could never work with children again after his sentence.
Ms Simpson, who now has three boys under 10, had been scrolling on Facebook when she came across Smith’s face.
And the account, which was confirmed as legitimate by the Probation Service, has angered the mother.
‘I froze, I couldn’t believe it,’ she said. ‘I have messaged the account saying: “You’ve got f*****g Facebook you piece of s**t”.
Ms Simpson, 33, who relives the ordeal ‘every minute of the day’, says Smith has been allowed to ‘live a normal life’. Pictured in 2006 with her son Troy, when she was 17
‘I went mental to be honest. I cannot actually believe that this is being allowed to happen.
‘I’ve reported the Facebook account, they don’t get back to you.
‘He tried to hide Troy, he tried to cover up what he did. He doesn’t even deserve to live, in my opinion.
‘You can’t do something like that and expect to live a normal life.’
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust said it couldn’t comment on individual cases, but added that ‘any restrictions on an individual’s liberty need to be appropriate and proportionate according to the patient’s stage in their care pathway’.
Ms Simpson (pictured at 17) described Smith, her then partner of a year as a man who did ‘everything a normal parent’ would for their baby
Ms Simpson was 17 when her baby boy was killed by Smith, her then partner of a year.
She described him as a man who did ‘everything a normal parent’ would for their baby.
Ms Simpson said: ‘There was nothing alarming, nothing that I could see coming. He used to change his nappy, he used to sort his bottles.
‘I wanted my son to have a family and that’s all I was seeing. I was young and I wish I could go back and just start over again and just have my boy on my own.’
Troy’s body was found wrapped in a bin bag – but convicted sex offender Smith is the only one who will ever know how he was killed, as pathologists could not determine a cause of death. Pictured, forensic teams investigating Troy’s death
Troy was found dead a day after Ms Simpson reported him missing. Pictured, forensic teams investigating Troy’s death
Troy was found wrapped in a bin liner inside a plastic JD Sports bag in a culvert beside Thimblemill Brook. Pictured, forensic teams investigating Troy’s death
Ms Simpson had been staying at Smith’s flat on her ‘first night’ away from Troy, who was at home with her mother, when tragedy struck.
His little body was found wrapped in a bin liner inside a plastic JD Sports bag in a culvert beside Thimblemill Brook on February 8, 2006 — a day after he was reported missing.
Ms Simpson said: ‘I fell asleep on the sofa. I remember waking up and he was sat on the end of the sofa.
‘He’d just been out of that house, killed and dumped my baby, and he was sitting right next to me.’
Ms Simpson had been staying at Smith’s flat on her ‘first night’ away from Troy, who was at home with her mother, when tragedy struck. Pictured, police investigating Troy’s death
The following morning, she headed back to the house where there was a letter on the table from her mother, reading: ‘You could have told me you came and got Troy.’
Knowing Troy wasn’t there and wasn’t with her mother, she called her sister. And when she failed to answer, a panicked Ms Simpson visited her niece’s school to ask if she knew whether her sister had Troy.
Ms Simpson said: ‘I got in touch with mum asking: “Where’s Troy”, then I just collapsed to my knees and I knew he was gone.
‘In my heart I knew he was gone, I knew I was never going to see him alive again.
‘In my heart I knew he was gone, I knew I was never going to see him alive again,’ Ms Simpson said. Pictured, police investigating Troy’s death
‘When I went to report him missing, we never got out of the police station. We were arrested on suspicion of murder and perverting the course of justice.’
While being held in the police station, she discovered via the radio that Troy’s body had been found.
Ms Simpson and her mother, Theresa Simpson, were cleared of all charges relating to Troy’s killing.
Ms Simpson added: ‘It destroys your whole soul. You can’t even move on from it, you can’t get past it.
‘You can learn how to deal with the pain and live with it, but it doesn’t go and it doesn’t get better.’
After his death, the traumatised mother was in and out of ‘every hostel in Birmingham’, found herself taking drugs to numb the pain, and lived on the streets for two and a half years.
‘When I went to report him missing, we never got out of the police station. We were arrested on suspicion of murder and perverting the course of justice,’ Ms Simpson said. Pictured, police investigating Troy’s death
‘After everything happened I went a bit crazy,’ Ms Simpson said. ‘I was absolutely traumatised and alone in this big wide world and no one gave a s**t.
‘I didn’t care about rules and regulations. I was absolutely destroyed. I got kicked out of the hostel.
‘I was just drinking and smoking weed a lot.’
Pathologists at the time were unable to find out how Troy died. And mystery still surrounds exactly how the little boy came to meet his death.
‘I know he wasn’t suffocated. I know he wasn’t drowned,’ Ms Simpson said. ‘I don’t know how he was killed, I don’t know what he did to my boy.
‘It’s sending me crazy. I think about it every minute of the day.’
Ms Simpson said the youngest of her sons is the ‘spitting image’ of Troy.
But she will never see how he would have looked or watch him meet his milestones.
Ms Simpson said that not knowing Troy’s cause of death sends her ‘crazy’ as she thinks about it ‘every minute of the day’. Pictured, police investigating Troy’s death, after he was found near his home in Smethwick, West Midlands
‘My big lad has light brown eyes, and that’s how Troy would’ve been,’ she said.
‘With my littl’un now, he’s the spitting image of Troy. The way he smiles, the way he laughs, it’s comforting for me.
‘Every time I look at my sons, I think about my boy. Troy is my boy too. He matters just as much as those boys downstairs, but it don’t seem like he does.
‘He’s been forgotten about now.’
To keep his memory alive, she keeps one of Troy’s blankets with her, but photos of her son are too much to bear.
Ms Simpson said: ‘My boys, there’s a photo I have of Troy and they always put it up in his bedroom. Whenever I see it, it just breaks my heart because he’s not here.
‘He’d be 16 now and he’d be getting up to all sorts. Girlfriends, things he shouldn’t be doing, getting up to no good like a normal 16-year-old boy.
‘Just the normal things I’m never going to see.’
Ms Simpson, who now has three sons under 10, says her ‘big lad’ looks how Troy would have done. Pictured, baby Troy
In August 2008, Smith appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court where he was convicted of four counts of sexual assault on a child under 16; and one of sexual activity with a child under 13.
He was made the subject of a hospital order to protect the public, after stating he was suffering from a mental disorder.
Asked about Smith being allowed on Facebook, a Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: ‘Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust cannot comment on the care of individual patients.
‘Any restrictions on an individual’s liberty need to be appropriate and proportionate according to the patient’s stage in their care pathway.
‘Where appropriate, we would advise any individuals who have concerns to contact their respective victim liaison officer for advice and support.’
The trust’s internet policy states that it ‘acknowledges the importance of internet access in everyday life’ and aims to support access for service users ‘where it is safe to do this’.