Birkenhead toddler murder trial told of "extreme violence" by mum's boyfriend

A court's heard a toddler found dead at his Birkenhead home had been the victim of "extreme violence'' at the hands of his mother's boyfriend, a court has heard.

Liverpool Crown Court heard Teddy Tilston, two, was unresponsive when paramedics were called to his home on March 1 and he was later found to have suffered a catalogue of injuries.

His twin sister Cassidy, who had been taken to hospital with a head injury earlier that day, was also found to have unexplained injuries when examined by doctors - including a broken wrist which she may have received up to six months earlier.

The jury of four men and eight women was told Craig Smith, 28, the partner of the twins' mother Ashleigh Willett, claimed Teddy had stopped breathing after drowning in the bath, despite the toddler being completely dry when ambulance staff saw him.

Smith denies the murder of Teddy and causing actual bodily harm to Cassidy.

Both Smith and Willett deny two counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 between July 2016 and March this year.

Opening the prosecution case on Wednesday, Nicholas Johnson QC said it was "inconceivable'' the twins' injuries could have gone unnoticed by the couple.

He said: "Both were responsible for the children and neither did anything and it was an escalation in the ill-treatment of these toddlers that led to both of them being separately admitted to hospital on March 1 whilst under the sole care of Craig Smith.''

Willett, wearing glasses and a black and white jacket, and Smith, wearing a grey jumper over a shirt and tie, were both in tears in the dock at times as the circumstances of the toddler's death were explained.

The court heard Willett, 25, a hairdresser, had been at work on March 1 when she was contacted by Smith, her partner of about a year, who told her Cassidy had injured her head.

The mother-of-three returned to the house on Woodville Road at about 11am and took her daughter to Arrowe Park Hospital.

Willett told medics the little girl had injured herself after running into a table - but hospital staff decided to keep the tot in after noticing other bruises.

Mr Johnson said Smith had remained at the couple's home in Woodville Road with Teddy and the twins' three-year-old sister Darcie.

Shortly before 2pm that day dog walker Alison Lamb described hearing the "frightened scream of a child'' as she walked past the house.

At 2.25pm Smith made a 999 call and told the operator Teddy was not breathing and had been in the bath and swallowed water.

Mr Johnson said: "The precise circumstances of what led to the 999 call at 2.25pm are known only to Craig Smith."

"The prosecution say that he has never told the truth about them - and the reason for his failure to be truthful is that he used extreme violence on Teddy and has tried to cover that up with the bogus and dishonest story of a drowning.''

When the ambulance arrived, within seven or eight minutes of the call, there were no signs of life in the toddler, who was prone on the floor and dressed in a nappy and vest.

An examination of Teddy showed he had bruises to his head, ear, upper lip, neck, jaw, abdomen and back as well bleeding on the brain which had occurred at least a week before his death.

He had a brain injury caused by lack of oxygen to the brain, which suggested he had survived at least 30 minutes after being injured.

Mr Johnson said a Home Office pathologist concluded the fatal injury was an internal tear to tissues joining the wall of Teddy's abdomen, which was likely to have been caused by abuse, rather than an accident.

He said: "The bottom line was that Teddy did not drown. He was punched or kicked in the abdomen, and in all likelihood, according to the pathologist, there was an element of manual asphyxiation involved - in other words strangling or smothering.''

When interviewed, Willett told police she had "no idea'' about the injuries inflicted on the toddlers, including the broken wrist suffered by Cassidy.

The trial is expected to last five weeks