A JURY has retired to consider whether a 21-month-old boy was murdered by his mother and her boyfriend.

Bobby Louch died on December 29, 2008 at home in Halcot Avenue, Bexleyheath, after suffering a string of around 40 injuries including, bruising, bleeding to his abdomen and brain, a burnt hand and two fractured ribs.

Mother Collette Harris, aged 30, of Chapel Close, Crayford, and her then boyfriend James Phillips, aged 25, of Dale View, Erith, are accused of murder.

The prosecution alleged at the Old Bailey that the injuries were a result of “deliberate and repeated violence" by the pair in the days before his death.

But both of the accused claim they played no part in causing the injuries.

They also deny alternative charges of manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.