A MEDICAL expert said “excessive force” would have been used to cause the injuries which resulted in the death of two-year-old Harry House.

The trial of Joseph Eke, 22, who is charged with the murder of the Broadmayne toddler on May 26 last year, continued at Winchester Crown Court yesterday as the jury heard from medical professionals. 

The court was told that Harry died as a result of blunt force trauma to his abdomen with a post-mortem examination also showing a fractured skull and five fractured ribs. 

Consultant in paediatric accident and emergency medicine Ian Maconochie, who examined Harry’s injuries, said they could not have been caused accidentally. 

Mr Maconochie told the jury that a child’s ribs are “relatively soft and pliable” compared to an adult’s bones and therefore could not have been damaged to such extent “without significant force.”

He also refuted previous explanations put forward by Harry’s mother Lauren O’Neill about bruises found on her son’s body prior to his death which she said were caused by their Lurcher puppy. 

Speaking from the witness box he said: “The bruises are of different ages, in different places and in different patterns. That constellation is highly concerning and would certainly make you think of non-accidental injury.  “It raises your level of concern trying to understand the how and why these injuries have come about.”

The jury were told that in the immediate aftermath of Harry’s death Miss O’Neill, 22, believed there to be a medical reason for her son’s death.  Adam Feest QC, prosecuting, read aloud a statement from Stephanie Thomas, a matron at Dorchester County Hospital, who comforted Miss O’Neill. 

It said: “Harry was her world and she couldn’t understand what had happened, she focused on the fact that there could have been a medical explanation for his death and that Harry could have had leukaemia.”

The court also heard that Eke was previously convicted of two counts of battery against Miss O’Neill on July 14, last year.

The jury was shown CCTV footage of the pair walking through Weymouth town centre before boarding a train in which the defendant could be seen to swing at Harry’s mother. 

Eke, of St Lawrence Road, Upwey, Weymouth, denies murder and charges of unlawful wounding, and grievous bodily harm.

Yesterday, the jury found Eke not guilty of actual bodily harm on the directions of the judge as the crown offered no evidence in support of the charge.

The trial continues.