32 Years for Murder of Baby Jacob in Roehampton

Drug user Jake Drummond found to have tortured toddler to death


32 years inside for Jake Drummond and 10 for Louise Lennon

Participate

Guilty Verdicts in Roehampton Toddler Death Case

Horrific Details Emerge of Final Hours of Jacob Lennon

Trial Date Set for Jacob Lennon Murder Case

Sign up for our weekly Putney newsletter

Comment on this story on the

May 26, 2023

A man who murdered a 15-month-old child in Roehampton after a sustained campaign of physical abuse has been jailed for 32 years.

33-year-old Jake Drummond was found to have killed Jacob Lennon on 27 August 2019 by shaking and hitting him. Pathologists later found a series of cuts and bites to the child’s body indicate that he had been subject to assaults over prolonged period of time.

The sentence was pronounced in a televised hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday afternoon (26 May). The judge said that an already emotionally volatile Drummond had seen a deterioration in his behaviour due to his drug use. He had taken cocaine the day before the fatal attack when partying with a friend. The court was told that Drummond was frustrated at Jacob staying in bed with him and the boy’s mother, 32-year-old Lousie Lennon, rather than his cot.

Drummond had a string of previous convictions for drug possession, holding a knife against his mother’s throat and assaulting an ex-girlfriend.


Jacob Lennon. Picture: Met Police

The judge also rejected a claim by Lennon that she had been coercively controlled by Drummond and concluded that she had deemed the relationship with him more important than her son’s welfare. The pair had joked about the boy’s injuries in texts they shared and described him as looking like ‘a little madman’ due to the extent of his bruises. When questioned about Jacob’s injuries Lennon had claimed they were due to accidents or had been caused by other children. She consistently lied to social services about Jacob’s condition and his location.

Lennon, 32, was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child having admitted child cruelty and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.

Speaking afterwards, Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jolley from the Met’s specialist crime unit, described the case as “by far, the most difficult, the most sad” of his thirty year career with the police.

He told the PA news agency, “This was a very emotional and distressing case over a three-year period, and to bring those responsible, Drummond and Lennon, to justice for Jacob means everything to us.

“This is extremely unusual. In my 30 years of service, this was a really distressing and emotional case for all of those involved.

“This is a horrific case in which Jacob, who was a 15-month-old baby, was subjected to some horrific injuries that are truly awful and cruel.

“There were over 20 individual injuries to his body at the time of his death. One of the most significant injuries was the injury to his genitalia, which was cruel and sadistic in its own right.

“Jacob’s eventual cause of death was a significant head injury. He had been subjected to assaults over a three-week period by Drummond, and Louise Lennon would have been fully aware, as mother of that child, that these injuries were significant and required medical assistance.”

 

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.



Bookmark and Share