A MOTHER broke down and wept as she told a jury of injuries found on her toddler after she left him in the care of a man she trusted to look after him.

York Crown Court rose to allow the woman to regain her composure as she gave evidence in the trial of Paul Anthony Walton.

She described how she found "bite marks" and other injuries on her son after Walton, 31, cared for him for a short time.

The court heard that a doctor later diagnosed a spiral fracture of the boy's femur and bruising, and a paediatrician concluded that the combination of injuries was unlikely to be accidental.

Walton, 31, of Fourth Avenue, Tang Hall, York, denies causing actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm to the boy shortly before his child's second birthday.

The child's mother told the court that Walton looked after her son twice on one weekend.

She did not think he was injured before the first time she left him, but on her return, she saw bruises on his forehead.

She added: "He had little bite marks on his ears, what I thought were bite marks."

Walton alleged the child had been playing in the garden.

The next day, she again left the child in his care. But when she returned after about ten minutes, the child was crying, she alleged.

"It wasn't a normal cry," said the mother and broke down.

The court rose for a time before she continued. "He was shaking. I took him up and I cuddled him. He clung to me."

The mother claimed she saw a long red mark on the child's back.

"He wasn't himself, he was terrified," she said.

She took the child to York Hospital.

Earlier, Simon Kealey, opening the prosecution, alleged that doctors found a spiral fracture of the femur, marks on the boy's right ear and a small bruise behind it, a bruise on the left ear, a scratch mark on the jaw line, two bruises on or near the abdomen and marks by his armpits.

A paediatrician concluded that because there were several injuries, the "likelihood of non-accidental injury increased substantially".

The trial continues.

Updated: 10:51 Tuesday, May 25, 2004