Murder accused babysitter 'lied'

Suzanne Holdsworth denies murdering the two-year-old

A babysitter accused of murdering a toddler has told a court that she and the child's mother lied to doctors.

Suzanne Holdsworth is alleged to have banged Kyle Fisher's head against a banister as she looked after him at her then Hartlepool home in July 2004.

Kyle, two, died in hospital of head injuries. Ms Holdsworth, 38, of Boggart Hill Drive, Leeds, denies murder.

She told Teesside Crown Court the child was left alone days before his death and lied to cover up for his mother.

The jury heard that on the night Ms Holdsworth had been babysitting for the toddler, who had lived in Troutpool Close, Hartlepool, he had fallen off a sofa.

She had splashed cold water on his head, but when he did not respond she called 999, the court heard.

Kyle Fisher's ventilator had to be switched off

Ms Holdsworth said she and the child's mother Clare Fisher, then 19, had decided not to tell doctors that he had been left on his own in the house on a previous occasion.

Ms Holdsworth told the hearing: "It was something stupid.

"I admit it and I've paid for it."

Kyle suffered irreparable brain damage and his ventilator was switched off in hospital two days later.

The jury was told the hearing was a retrial, accounting for why the case was more than four years old.

The trial continues.