A MOTHER told a social worker that her boyfriend had hurt her baby but she did nothing about it, a court heard yesterday.

Two-month-old Kane Simpson, from Billingham, suffered brain injuries, two skull fractures, broken legs and arms and six broken ribs before his mother and her boyfriend called a doctor.

Rachael Simpson, 19, told a senior social worker from Stockton Borough Council that she thought her boyfriend, Andrew Spence, 24, had caused the injuries. But she did not know if they had been caused deliberately or accidentally, said Ann Carson, senior practitioner for Stockton social services.

She told Teesside Crown Court that Mr Spence described how he fell down the stairs holding Kane, and that halfway down he let go of the baby.

Mrs Carson said: "I said to Rachael 'You have admitted that Andrew Spence hurt your son and you did nothing about it', and Rachael said that she had.

"Rachael later admitted that something had been happening to Kane and that it was serious, but that she had done nothing about it."

Kane is now recovering with foster parents, but doctors do not know if there will be long-lasting effects, said Shaun Dodds, prosecuting.

The boy's mother, who is seven months pregnant, and her boyfriend, from Redworth Road, Billingham, deny two charges of child cruelty by ill-treating and neglecting Kane between September and December 2001.

The case is continuing.