Back in December 2008 I wrote about a little Australian boy, John Erik Ashfield, who was murdered in August 1993 by his mother and her boyfriend. The incident occurred at a time when the memories of what had happened to British toddler James Bulger were still fresh in the minds of the population, and what was claimed to be an assault by local teens turned out to be something far more horrific.

Gunn-Britt Ashfield (now known as Angelic Karstrom) and her boyfriend Austin Allan Hughes had set upon her six year old son as he returned home from Warrilla Primary School one afternoon in the NSW country town of Nowra. Over the next two and a half hours the little boy was beaten relentlessly by his mother and her boyfriend for having supposedly touched his sister inappropriately. When the child was almost lifeless they took him to the local hospital and claimed that he had been found in a park and had been beaten by local youngsters. Little John died from massive head injuries which were found to have been inflicted by a hammer…

The police were not fooled though by the couple’s lies and the repulsive Gunn-Britt Ashfield and Austin Hughes were charged and sentenced to 19 years prison with a minimum of 14 years non-parole period. In 2007 they both applied for parole and were rejected; in June 2009 Ms Ashfield applied once more for parole and again was turned down. If ever a female deserves to rot in prison it is this one, along with the Tracey Connellys’, Myra Hindleys’ and Vanessa Georges’ of this world. The only way to deal with such females is, at the very very least, keep them locked away until their ovaries shrivel up and rot – so that they never get the chance to have and abuse any more children.

Update: Austin Hughes walks free