A couple who inflicted more than 70 injuries on a three-year-old boy have been found guilty of his murder.

Ryan Lovell-Hancox suffered a brain haemorrhage brought on by up to 10 blows to his head when it hit a floor or wall.

Experts said his injuries were similar to those suffered by a road accident victim.

The toddler was in the care of Kayley Boleyn, 19, and her boyfriend Christopher Taylor, 25.

When Ryan's mother Amy Hancox said she was struggling to cope, her long-time friend Boleyn offered to help.

She was paid £20-£40 a week to look after Ryan in the run-up to Christmas 2008, so Amy could decorate her home.

Christopher Taylor and Kayley Boleyn were paid to look after Ryan. On December 22, Boleyn ran to a neighbour in Bilston, Wolverhampton, and asked him to dial 999.

She told him Ryan had slipped in the bath and hit his head.

After calling the emergency services he went to Boleyn's flat to help.

"There was a baby lying on the bed naked with scratches on his face and his eyes were like foaming, it was a pretty traumatic sight to see," Adrian Mitchel said.

"I stuck my fingers in his mouth and pulled his tongue out and rubbed his back until air came out. He burped and I waited for the ambulance to come."

But when doctors saw the extent of Ryan's injuries, they knew they could not have been caused by a simple fall and they contacted police. A few days later Ryan suffered a cardiac arrest and died in hospital, on Christmas Eve.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how the couple had humiliated and degraded the child.

He was made to lick spilt soup from the floor and they shouted at him so loudly that he wet himself.

Police believe a friction burn to his nose was caused by his face being rubbed into his own urine on the carpet.

Ryan's mother insists Boleyn had been a trusted friend and that she had no idea the pair had been abusing her son.