Baby 'became ill' in nanny's care

Isaac died after a seizure 10 months after the alleged attack

A mother who left her baby son in the care of a nanny returned to find him seriously ill, a court has heard.

Isaac Rowlinson, the son of police officers Paul and Lisa Rowlinson, died last July - 10 months after the incident in Penwortham, Lancashire.

Linda Wise, 47, is accused of shaking the 13-month-old baby causing brain damage, which led to a fatal seizure.

Ms Wise, of Gaerwen, Anglesey, denies a charge of manslaughter at Liverpool Crown Court.

Lisa Rowlinson, a detective constable with Lancashire Police, said she and husband Paul, a detective inspector with the same force, left their baby son Isaac with maternity nurse Linda Wise when they went for a trip to the Lake District.

Mrs Rowlinson told the jury she had left Isaac, then aged about 11 weeks in September 2006 in Ms Wise's care and he was "perfectly happy".

Brain damage

The following morning their hotel passed on a message from Ms Wise that the baby had been rushed to hospital.

Mrs Rowlinson said: "Linda had said Isaac was suffering a temperature but as soon as I got there I knew it wasn't just a temperature, he was really poorly."

Mrs Rowlinson said Wise explained that when she had gone to feed Isaac he was found to be rigid and his mouth "clamped" around the bottle.

She said: "Linda was saying she did the best she could and I was reassuring her."

Linda Wise worked as a nanny for the son of Tom and Miriam Stoppard

Mrs Rowlinson told the jury she noticed at the hospital that Isaac had developed small "pin prick" sized spots on the inside his left ear.

Isaac was transferred to Manchester Children's Hospital and later that month his parents were told he had brain damage.

He was discharged from hospital in October that year and began suffering epileptic fits in the following November.

Isaac died in July last year, when he was 13 months old, after suffering a seizure from which he never recovered.

Under cross-examination by Graham Wood QC, defending, Mrs Rowlinson agreed Wise's service in the initial days was "fantastic" and she had quickly bonded with the baby.

Newborn twins

Mrs Rowlinson told the court: "The doctors told us they were investigating whether Isaac could have suffered a non-accidental injury.

"I was praying that wasn't the case. I didn't want to accept that anyone would hurt my child."

Mr Wood told the court that Wise, who specialises in working with newborn twins, had once lost her own twins through miscarriage.

Mrs Rowlinson said she hired Wise after a telephone interview and her husband had received a positive reference from the nanny's most recent client, Ed Stoppard, the actor son of playwright Tom Stoppard and agony aunt Dr Miriam Stoppard.

Ruth Reckitt, the owner of the Maternity Nurse Company, said Wise had been registered with her agency since 2002 and the only criticism she had ever heard of the nanny was that she "talked too much".