A babysitter who brutally killed a two-year-old girl on his 15th birthday has been released from prison. Karl McCluney inflicted a horrific attack on Demi Leigh Mahon at a house in Eccles, Salford, in July 2008, leaving her with 68 injuries and severe brain damage. The toddler spent two days on life support before the machine was switched off, with her parents by her side.
McCluney was convicted of murder at Liverpool Crown Court in July 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Judge Mr Justice Sweeney characterised the assault as ‘savage’. He stated: “You were extremely fed up with having to babysit because it was your birthday, nobody had planned anything for you, and you did not think that was fair.
“At the flat, Demi Leigh was crying, and you became angry with her. Unsurprisingly, given your anger, she cried more. You got angrier and angrier until you lost your temper altogether.
“You then, over a period, according to you, of about 10 minutes, you hit her many times. You were large and powerful, she was only a small child and stood no chance against your onslaught.”
The judge informed McCluney he would remain incarcerated ‘until such time as it is decided you no longer pose a danger’, adding: “When that might be is, at present, impossible to tell.”
Demi Leigh’s mother, Ann Marie McDonald, left the toddler with McCluney while she went to cash her child benefit. The teenager took her to the park before executing the attack at his home on Liverpool Road, reports the Manchester Evening News.
He failed to justify his actions, the court was told, other than hinting that Demi Leigh’s behaviour was irritating him. The murderer, whose sentence ended in April 2024, has now been released from prison following a two-day parole hearing which heard evidence from two psychologists, a psychiatrist, two social workers and McCluney himself.
The Parole Board stated in its decision summary that the now 31-year-old ‘held extreme shame and daily remorse for the devastating impact his actions continued to have on family members’.
The hearing was informed that at the time of the murder, he had a ‘propensity to use violence’ when he ‘experienced difficulties in managing extremes of emotion’. It was also revealed that during the early part of his sentence, his behaviour was ‘problematic’ and that he had also spent time in a ‘secure hospital setting’.
However, since 2017, the panel said, he had ‘coped better’ and there had been ‘no evidence of violence against others’ for the past 11 years. McCluney had ‘engaged well’ with psychologists and had ‘made progress in the areas of communication, problem solving, dealing with stress and learning about behavioural boundaries’.
The panel, ruling that McCluney could be released, stated they were ‘satisfied that imprisonment was no longer necessary for the protection of the public’. He will have to adhere to several licence conditions, including residing at a ‘designated address’, observing a curfew and an exclusion zone to avoid contact with Demi Leigh’s family.