Baby was floppy, murder jury told

The mother of an 11-month-old girl, who was allegedly murdered, has described finding the baby Ruby Spink on her boyfriend's lap all "floppy".

Laura Spink's boyfriend, 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murdering Ruby in Great Yarmouth.

Ms Spink, 18, of Salisbury Road, Great Yarmouth, denies causing or allowing her daughter's death, but earlier admitted cruelty, jurors heard.

She told Norwich Crown Court that her boyfriend said Ruby had choked on cake.

Ms Spink told the court that on 16 September last year after returning to the room where Ruby and her boyfriend were sitting Ruby was "floppy and red".

'Hardly breathing'

She added that her boyfriend "had his hands about her neck and on her back, supporting her neck".

"Ruby was hardly breathing. I phoned the ambulance. I asked him what had happened and he said Ruby had choked on a piece of cake. He had tried to resuscitate her."

She said she had never harmed Ruby and was shocked when she heard she had suffered a fractured skull from which she had died in hospital on 17 September.

Asked why she admitted cruelty, Ms Spink replied: "Because I had left her in a room with him and had forgotten I had signed an agreement with social services not to leave her with him."

The trial continues.