A mum has been jailed for four years after she beat her toddler so ferociously he was left looking as though he'd been 'hit with a frying pan'.
Preston Crown Court heard that the little boy was subjected to a series of attacks by his 'depressed' 22-year-old mum. The beatings left him with four broken bones and numerous bruises to his head and body.
The Mail reports that the judge criticised his mum for trying to blame others for the little boy's appalling injuries.
The police had even interviewed his father about them as he helped to look after the child.
The unnamed woman was convicted of three counts of wounding and neglect for the attacks, which took place over one week two years ago.
Jailing her for four years, judge Heather Lloyd also banned her from looking after children for life - including any of her own.
"The one person a child should look to for protection is his mother but this was a case which involved a parent inflicting harm upon a child," the judge told her. "You did things to him which resulted in him having multiple fractures to his body and arms, bruising his cheeks and a significant head injury.
"One witness said he looked like he had been hit with a frying pan. Why you did it remains a complete mystery."
The judge said that the mum had 'quite deliberately' done everything she could to 'deflect suspicion' from herself following the horrendous assaults.
"Fortunately he has recovered from his injuries, how he will feel when he finds out what his mother has done to him is anyone's guess," she said.
The court was told that after the woman was arrested the child's father attacked her, and is he now serving a 'lengthy' prison sentence himself.
The woman's lawyer Beverley Hackett said her client understood that nothing she could say could 'go beyond the verdict of the jury' and that she knew had had 'lost her son'.
She added that the woman 'dreads the day when he is older and comes to know what happened'.
The little boy recovered from his injuries has been placed in the care of his grandmother.