My granddaughter Lola James was murdered by monster stepfather – I’ll forever regret not being able to save her life
THE GRIEVING grandmother of tot Lola James has revealed her guilt for being unable to babysit her the night she was killed.
Nicola James, 48, said it’s a decision she will regret forever, as she was feeling unwell the evening Lola died, and couldn’t watch her.
Nicola told The Mirror: “I feel really guilty, I was only 15 minutes away from where Lola was attacked at the hands of a monster.”
The toddler died on July 21, 2020, four days after experiencing unspeakable torture from her “stepdad” Kyle Bevans.
Police said the 101 injuries on little Lola’s body were likened to a high speed car crash – and not one area on her body was unbruised.
Bevan has been convicted of murder, and Lola’s mum Sinead James, 30, was also found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child.
The injuries Lola sustained were shocking to grandmother Nicola, who said she didn’t see signs of abuse prior to Lola’s death.
Nicola continued: “Since the trial I’ve spent hours looking at photographs and mobile phone videos of Lola – there are no marks on her.
“I bathed her every day and she was always running around naked like two-year-olds do.
“I looked after her the majority of the time, I would have noticed something.”
The grandmother said she met killer Bevan once while he dated her daughter Sinead, and never trusted him.
Nicola worried her daughter Sinead had fallen into an abusive relationship with Bevan, and her fears came true.
She said: “I never thought he was capable of murdering our lovely Lola.
“He is a coward, he’s never told us what really happened that night.”
On the night of Lola’s death, mum Sinead claimed she was woken by a “bang” and Lola’s scream at around midnight.
She said she rushed into the tot’s bedroom to find Bevan hugging Lola but claimed she could not see any visible injuries.
James said she asked her boyfriend, who was sitting on the bottom bunk of Lola’s bed: “What the f*** is going on?”
Bevan told her “I’ve got this” before James said goodnight to her daughter.
The court heard the youngster replied: “Night mummy, love you.”
Vile Bevan tried worming his way out his sickening crimes by claiming the family dog had pushed Lola down the stairs.
But the toddler suffered a sickening list of 101 “severe and extensive” injuries that “cannot be explained by a fall down the stairs”.
Her catastrophic brain injuries were most likely caused by shaking, with the tot also suffering “gripping” injuries to her neck.
There was bruising to her ears, which is rarely the result of an accident, with injuries to her head probably caused by “abusive head trauma”, a paediatrician said.
The also heard Lola had injuries to her back and legs that looked like they could have been caused by “three or four blows with a weapon”.