A WOMAN has been convicted of killing a baby boy in her care.

Agnes Wong, 28, was found guilty by a jury of 11 to one of the manslaughter of Hugo Wang, who was 16-months-old.

The child suffered fatal head injuries while staying at Wong's flat in Frank Cowin Court in Lower Broughton, and died the next day.

Manchester Crown Court was told that Wong, who was paid £120 a week to look after Hugo, picked him up by his ankles and flung him against either a bed or a settee.

He had bleeding and severe swelling of the brain but at hospital other injuries were also noted.

The boy had bruising to his legs, a burn mark, and bite marks.

In court Wong admitted that she had hit and bitten Hugo in the days before his death when he had been `naughty'.

Wong claimed the burn mark was caused when Hugo was playing with a hairdryer, but it was alleged by prosecutor Christopher Melton, that she burned him with it.

Collapsed

Wong had denied murder and claimed that Hugo had just gone floppy and collapsed as she prepared to bath him one evening.

But she admitted that in order to scare him into behaving she would stand him on a coffee table and hit the table with a ruler or plastic strip from a fridge. Sometimes she hit Hugo with the ruler.

Wong's partner, Jian Liu, was charged with causing or allowing the death of a child by an unlawful act and attempting to pervert the course of justice but after legal argument on the directions of the judge a jury found him not guilty of both charges.

Hugo was being cared for by Wong as his mother Zhen, who was only 16 when she gave birth, and father Xitu Yian Lin, in his thirties, worked long hours in a Chinese restaurant in Southport. His mother only saw Hugo once a week.

Detective Chief Inspector Geoff Wessell said: "From speaking to medical experts we think that Hugo died after his head was hit with extreme force against a soft surface. Marks on his legs could have been the result of him having been held by his ankles and swung round.

"Hugo's brain was accelerated and stopped very quickly. There is no way unintentional rough handling of a child would have resulted in this kind of injury.

"Instead of caring for Hugo, Wong punished him for doing just what children do - cry and crave attention. I hope Hugo's parents can seek some comfort that justice has been done today."

The judge adjourned sentencing for reports.

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