THE mother of a two-year-old boy alleged to have been murdered by his babysitter gave evidence in court today.

Clare Fisher tearfully denied suggestions by defence barrister Andrew Thomas, QC, during dramatic courtroom exchanges in which she was branded “a liar”.

During the tense cross-examination, Miss Fisher, 24, denied that she had been “short or snappy” with her son Kyle in the days leading up to his death in July 2004.

Miss Fisher was said to have been struggling to cope without her parents – on holiday in Tenerife – and swore at Kyle when she lost her temper during a game of dominoes.

In reply to a direct accusation from Mr Thomas that the then-teenage single mother had struck Kyle, Miss Fisher maintained: “I never, ever, raised a hand to him.”

She admitted that the weekend before her son’s death, she left him home alone with a broom handle propped up against his bedroom door while she went out drinking.

It is said that Suzanne Holdsworth, 38, injured the boy on Tuesday, July 20 while Miss Fisher was at the cinema, and again the following night while he stayed with her.

The prosecution claims Mrs Holdsworth lost her temper on the Wednesday and repeatedly smashed Kyle’s head against a banister at her home on the Central Estate.

Mrs Holdsworth, formerly of Millpool Close, Hartlepool, and now from Seacroft, Leeds, denies murder and faces a trial which is expected to last three weeks.

The trial continues.