Baby 'swung against wall'

The toddler was allegedly attacked at the cottage

A baby girl was grabbed by the feet and swung "like a pendulum" against a wall, a murder trial has heard.

In a statement to police Andrea Bone, the mother of 13-month-old Carla Nicole, described how her partner at the time had turned the baby upside down and swung her about.

She said that Alexander "Sandy" McClure swung the infant and her head was banging off a wall.

Bone, 20, and McClure, 27, both deny murdering Carla-Nicole at a remote cottage in Aberdeenshire in May.

Police investigate the cottage

The High Court in Stonehaven heard that Bone had told police they had been making the child stand against a wall for half an hour at a time to strengthen her legs and encourage her to walk.

She said that afterwards the little girl could not stand up.

McClure took Nicole to the bathroom to revive her but she was not moving and they decided to take her to hospital.

Asked by police why she did not remove the child from danger, during what police said was the child being "systematically tortured" during the last five months of her life, Bone replied: "I don't know, I really don't know.

"He loved her to bits, he always hugged her afterwards."

Cruel acts

In the statements Bone also alleged that McClure forced the baby to eat her own vomit.

She claimed that McClure would scoop up the remnants of food on her bib and put them on a plate.

In the statement she said: "He used to make her eat her sick at the caravan.

"He used to pull it out of that (the bib) and put it in a dish and make her eat it."

Both McClure and Bone deny the murder of Carla-Nicole after a number of alleged cruel acts at Conland Farm Cottage, Forgue, Huntly, Aberdeenshire, on 13 May.

The trial before Lord Abernethy continues.