A CHILD expert said that a two-month-old Teesside baby had the most severe injuries he had ever seen in a youngster, a court was told today.

Two-month old Kane Simpson from Billingham, was taken to a medical centre with brain injuries, two fractures of the skull, six fractured ribs, a broken arm, a broken left thumb, a broken left shin bone, two fractures of the left thigh, a broken left ankle bone.

A consultant paediatrician at Hartlepool General Hospital said they would have required a very substantial force of severity seen in a road traffic accident, and that they were the most severe injuries he had ever seen in a baby.

Some of the fractures were weeks old and some were only days old.

The baby is now recovering in foster care.

Teesside Crown Court heard how police interviewed the mother 19-year-old Rachel Simpson, and her live-in boyfriend Andrew Spence, 24, who she met on the Internet.

The couple from Redworth Road, Billingham, both deny two charges of child cruelty alleging willful assault and neglect between September and December 2001.

Prosecutor Shaun Dodds said the couple took Kane on December 7 to the medical centre in Billingham where he was seen by a GP.

He told Teesside Crown Court: "The doctor formed the opinion that he was very ill and he was transferred to Hartlepool General Hospital and seen by paediatricians.

Simpson told a doctor that she had lifted Kane and she heard a crack, telling her sister that perhaps it had been caused by her pressing shut press-studs on a babygrow - bruising that had been noticed by the sister.

Spence was questioned about a series of supposed accidents, falling downstairs with the baby when he lost his grip on the child, sitting at his computer when the child fell forward and banged his head, and throwing the baby a foot into the air and catching him.

Mr Dodds added: "A consultant paediatrician said that the injuries require a very substantial force and they were non-accidental."

The case continues.