An Oldham mum on trial for murdering her five-year-old son Dylan Scanlon has shown herself as “more than capable” of covering up the fact she killed him, according to the prosecution’s closing statement.

On the 16th day of the murder trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Thursday prosecutor Lisa Wilding described how Claire Scanlon, 38, of Elm Street, Limeside had an “unshakeable burning sense of injustice and anger” following the breakdown of the relationship with her son's father Gary Keenan which culminated in her solving the problem of their son by “permanently removing him”.

Scanlon is on trial charged with one count of murder, with an alternative lesser count of manslaughter, as well as two further alternative lesser counts of child cruelty. She has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against her.

Ms Wilding began her closing speech to the jury by reading the letter that was found in Scanlon’s bedside drawer following Dylan’s death.

She said the prosecution says the letter, which is four pages long and handwritten, is the “clearest piece of evidence” that Scanlon intended Dylan to die and that it was written shortly before his death.

A section of the letter reads: "Don't let them see us, just cremate us, all this could have been avoided if Gary and his family left us alone."

Ms Wilding told the jury that the prosecution say Scanlon intended for the letter to be found and that for whoever found the letter to know that she wanted her and Dylan to be cremated.

Several messages sent from Scanlon to Mr Keenan in the months leading to Dylan’s death were also read to the jury. Ms Wilding asked the jury to consider whether the messages were “threats or warnings” and if they revealed the “thought process” in Scanlon’s head.

Among them was a message Scanlon sent to Mr Keenan on December 15, 2021 which read: “I promise you won’t see him again. You’ll see. Bye. Go enjoy your life.”

Just over a week later the court heard that Scanlon sent a message to her eldest son Shawn that included the line: “No one will get Dyl I’ll make sure of that.”

Ms Wilding later turned to watch she called the “most telling message” sent from Scanlon to Mr Keenan on December 30, 2021.

It reads: “You’re just showing, all you want to do is act like me and Dyl weren’t in your life and crack on, make a new life with your new bird.

"So, you go and do that. I’ll solve it for you. Go and enjoy your new life with her.”

Addressing the jury Ms Wilding said: “So what was she going to solve? Within 36 hours of that message Dylan was dead.”

She then turned to the evidence given by forensic pathologist Dr Charles Wilson assessed Dylan’s body and undertook a postmortem.

Ms Wilding said Dr Wilson was “unshakeable” in his opinion that the injuries found on Dylan were “unquestionable non accidental injuries” that were not consistent with falling down a ladder or downstairs.

She recalled that Dr Wilson said: “I have seen a lot of children beaten by adults and this is the pattern you see.”

Turning to the events of December 31, 2021, the day Dylan was found, Ms Wilding said the prosecution say that Scanlon’s “immediate response” was to lie to those who came to help Dylan “because she knew exactly what happened” and it “was her way of trying to distance herself from it”.

She said that Scanlon telling the paramedics, who attended, that she had been checking on Dylan every 20 minutes was a “cover up” as Dr Wilson said in his evidence that it was “highly unlikely” Dylan was capable of any act of physical movement 20 minutes before his death.

The jury was reminded that Scanlon told several people at the scene that Dylan fell off a ladder.

Ms Wilding then reminded the jury of what she called an “important statement” that Scanlon made while at Edenfield Hospital in Prestwich, where she stayed after her arrest.

The court heard that in a conversation with Tracey Wills, a senior support worker at Edenfield Hospital, Scanlon said: “I know I’ve killed my son. I’ve always known it. I’m just thinking about it now because he could have been playing out in the snow.”

Ms Wilding asked the jury to consider whether Scanlon said this because she was “mentally unwell” or because she was “unburdening herself”.

The jury was then asked to consider the empty packets of Mirtazapine found in Scanlon’s house.

Ms Wilding said there were 59 days between Scanlon getting her first Mirtazapine, prescription on November 2, 2021 and Dylan dying meaning that if Scanlon took one tablet a day, as she said, there would have been 53 spare tablets.

She said seven completely empty packets of Mirtazapine were found in Scanlon’s house and one packet was found in her bedside drawer with two tablets left inside, meaning 51 tablets were unaccounted for.

Ms Wilding said it was “extraordinary” to think a mother would find several empty packets of Mirtazapine at her home and assuming they had been accidentally taken by her son “simply throw them in the bin”.

She added that it was “inconceivable” that Dylan took the tablets, saying “there is no viable way a five-year-old took those tablets himself.”

Ms Wilding then addressed Scanlon’s evidence and said: “The reality is there isn’t much she actually said it’s a lot of denial.”

She said Scanlon offered no explanation for the missing tablets and denied a conversation with her father Michael Scanlon.

Discussing the phone call, Mr Scanlon told the jury when giving evidence: “She said she tried to take her own life. She said she had taken tablets as well, but she didn’t take enough because she woke up.”

Ms Wilding called on the jury to consider why Scanlon’s father would give “lying evidence against his daughter”.

She told the jury that the prosecution say Scanlon has shown herself as “more than capable of being able to cover up the fact she killed Dylan”.

At the end of her closing speech, Ms Wilding said that Scanlon “does not want to tell the truth about what happened” but that she “is not unable to tell the truth”, concluding: “She does not want to confront the reality of what happened to Dyl.”

The trial continues.