A CLEVEDON dad and his partner have denied assaulting a child after doctors found evidence of multiple fractures and bruises on her body.

The pair, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, pleaded not guilty when they appeared before magistrates at North Somerset Courthouse in St Georges yesterday (Tues) charged with assaulting or ill-treating a child on June 21 and a second count between June 21 and 25 last year.

The court heard how friends of the couple had been looking after the 18-month-old last June while they went to a concert.

When dressing the child and changing her nappy, they noticed her leg was painful when she moved it. The friends advised her dad to take her to the doctors.

Kevin Blackmore, prosecuting, told the court: “On June 24 NHS Direct received a call from the male defendant stating that his daughter had fallen off the sofa onto the floor and hurt her leg. Since then it had become swollen.

“He was instructed to take her to A&E. An X-ray showed her left femur was completely broken so she was referred to Bristol Children’s Hospital.

“She was examined further and a full skeletal survey was taken which showed she also had an old fracture to her right femur - about three weeks old - and what appeared to be an old fracture to her left upper arm.

“She also had a number of other marks and bruises on her body.”

Mr Blackmore added that her dad, aged 39, had given explanations for the bruises, stating that her dungarees had been too tight and that he had gripped her too tightly when showering her.

The defendants will appear before Bristol Crown Court for a preliminary hearing next month.