Croydon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Colin McSweeny, a Croydon fireman jailed for killing his son with a scaffolding pole, has died in prison, authorities have confirmed.
According to the prison watchdog, a former firefighter died in prison after bludgeoning his adoptive kid to death with a scaffolding pole.
In November 2014, Croydon resident Colin McSweeny, 68, killed 24-year-old Shaun McSweeny while he was in charge of his five-year-old granddaughter. Then, McSweeny, of Thornton Heath’s Parry Road, attempted to dispose of the body in the Thames River.
McSweeny was convicted at the Old Bailey in 2015 and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 14-and-a-half years.
Shaun stated throughout the trial that he wanted to vacate the property he shared with them, but they were worried about his daughter’s safety if she accompanied him.
“I [thought I] was going to be killed,”
he told the Old Bailey,
“I just struck him. I heard his last words were ‘oh lord’ then he fell to the floor.”
McSweeny said he washed his son’s face and spent the evening in his house with a police officer friend who had been invited to celebrate his wife’s 60th birthday.
He loaded Shaun’s body into the back of his vehicle and went to Deptford Wharf later that evening. There, he was observed attempting to hoist Shaun’s body over a wall and into the Thames River.
Police pursued him after he changed his mind, and they found Shaun’s body in the boot, lying on a badly bloodstained tarpaulin.
McSweeny died on September 23, 2024, at HMP Gartree Croydon, a high-security prison in Leicestershire, according to the Prisons and Probations Ombudsman. When a complete report is made public, the Ombudsman will disclose the cause of death and any issues about the prison’s treatment of the matter.
Which court imposed his sentence and what was the judgment text?
The Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey), London, sentenced Colin McSweeny for the murder of his adopted son. The judgment was delivered by the Common Serjeant of London, Richard Marks.
He was sentenced to life with a minimum of 14 and a half years. In the sentencing remarks, the judge outlined the severity of the attack, the serious trust as a parent that was broken, and the lifelong impact on the family of the victim.
The judgment acknowledged the aggravating factors including: the use of a weapon (scaffolding pole), the motive linked to a custody dispute concerning the granddaughter. The judge agreed that there was sufficient evidence to warrant the necessity of deterrence, for commensurate justice regarding the seriousness of the offending.