Couple ‘inflicted 36 rib injuries on defenceless toddler’

A mother and her boyfriend inflicted 36 rib fractures on her ‘completely defenceless’ two-year-old son in the weeks leading up to his death, a court heard. Phylesia Shirley, 24, are accused of killing Kyrell Matthews with her boyfriend Kemar Brown, 28, at her home in Thornton Heath, south London, on 20 October 2019. Prosecutor Edward Brown, QC, told jurors at the Old Bailey: ‘Kyrell Matthews was just two years old when he died. ‘His second birthday had been just a…