Bruising on a toddler’s ear which was seen the day before he was allegedly shaken to death was not the result of an accident, a murder trial has been told.

Charlie Roberts was one year and 10 months when he suffered a non-survivable head injury at his home in Darlington in January.

His mother Paula Roberts, 41, was out for an eye test and the little boy was in the sole care of her partner Christopher Stockton, 38, at the time, Teesside Crown Court has heard.

Stockton denies murder and child neglect.

Roberts faces a single charge of child neglect, which she denies, in relation to injuries Charlie allegedly suffered prior to his death.

There has to be a direct force to bruise an ear, that doesn’t happen from a domestic tumble whether awake or asleep

The day before, Roberts had told her brother that Charlie had suffered bruised ears when he lay down in his toy box while sleep-walking.

Dr Deborah Stalker, an expert paediatrician and specialist in child protection, studied photos of Charlie in the months before his death, the reports of medical experts and post-mortem images.

She told the jury she did not believe that Charlie suffered the bruised ear while sleep-walking.

She said: “In my opinion, this is a non-accidental injury, by that I mean it is a purposefully-inflicted injury.

“Accidental injuries to the ear are very rare.”

She explained that the shoulder or head usually take the impact of a fall, rather than an ear.

“To injure the ear with the type of injuries that you see on Charlie’s ear requires a direct blow,” Dr Stalker said.

She dismissed the claim that Charlie could have bruised an ear while sleep-walking, saying: “Simple falls do not cause ear injuries.

“There has to be a direct force to bruise an ear, that doesn’t happen from a domestic tumble whether awake or asleep.”

She said bruising would have been “very uncomfortable” and it would cause the ear to throb.

The court has heard that Stockton was not Charlie’s father and he had been in a relationship with the toddler’s mother for about 10 months when the little boy died.

The case continues.