POLICE have been accused of carrying out a “selective and flawed investigation”

into the death of a two-year-old.

Andrew Thomas, defending murderaccused Suzanne Holdsworth, told the Teesside Crown Court jury yesterday that the Crown Prosecution Service had only ever been given his client as a possible suspect.

The 38-year-old mother-of-two denies murdering Kyle Fisher while babysitting him at her then home in Millpool Close, Hartlepool, in July, 2004. She maintains he suffered a seizure.

However, she is accused of repeatedly ramming his head into the banister in a rage while looking after him for just over an hour, causing fatal brain swelling.

The prosecution has argued that Kyle would have collapsed no more than 15 minutes after suffering the head trauma – meaning Miss Holdsworth was the only possible suspect.

Andrew Robertson, prosecuting, said the curved and linear bruising on the toddler’s head matched the banister.

But during his final speech to the jury yesterday, Mr Thomas said he believed the bruising to Kyle’s head was not caused on the night he collapsed, but possibly the day before.

He reminded the jury that Kyle’s mother, Clare Fisher, of nearby Troutpool, Hartlepool, had noticed bruising on her son’s head during the morning of the day he collapsed. He said that as a teenage, single mother, she was unable to cope, suffered depression and was known to “mistreat” Kyle. He said she was the one with motive, adding that older, unexplained bruises on Kyle’s body meant she was the only “credible candidate” for causing the fatal injuries.

He said: “It was a selective, flawed investigation, which caused the prosecution to fix on a selective view of the facts to maintain the case against Suzanne Holdsworth. Suzanne Holdsworth was innocent and did nothing more than get involved because she cared.”

The court has accepted the toddler suffered three serious brain abnormalities, two of which left him pre-disposed to suffer from epileptic fits.

The defence has argued that Kyle suffered a serious head injury, possibly the day before he collapsed, which may have caused a slow bleed on his brain.

That, Mr Thomas claimed, could have triggered a massive epileptic fit, leading to brain swelling. Or, he said, the toddler could have simply had a second minor bang that night, which could have triggered the brain swelling.

He said: “Tragically, the two problems that Kyle had came together.”

The prosecution accused the defence of grasping at straws.

The jury is expected to consider a verdict today.