A HUDDERSFIELD mother accused of murdering her little girl wept as she told a jury it was her then boyfriend who inflicted the youngster's fatal injuries.

Four-year-old Leticia Wright died in from multiple injuries last November.

Her mother, Sharon Wright, 23, and her partner at the time, Peter Seaton, 22, are alleged to have caused them.

But from the witness box Wright told Bradford Crown Court that Seaton had hit Leticia in a rage because he had run out of skunk cannabis.

Wright said that on Thursday, November 16, she had gone out on her own to do the weekly shopping. When she got back she found her daughter was covered in bruises.

She said that the next day Seaton was “continuing his rage’’ and had again struck Leticia.

The court has heard that it was on the Saturday that Leticia collapsed and died in the living room of the house they shared at Almondbury Bank in Moldgreen.

Wright’s barrister, Julian Goose QC, asked her: “Who was it that caused the injuries that caused Leticia to die?’’

She replied: “Peter.’’

Mr Goose: “Did you do anything to her that caused any of the injuries the jury have heard about?’’

Wright: “No. I tried stopping him best that I could.’’

Wright alleged that Seaton, whom she had met while living in Hartlepool, had also become abusive towards her after they moved into the Almondbury Bank house.

She said that his moods would change when he ran out of cannabis, adding:. “If he didn't have it sometimes he could be all right, sometimes not. He could lose his temper with me and Leticia.’’

Wright said Seaton would start shouting at her and pushing her around, which left her scared and frightened.

“He would hit Leticia. He would smack her on her arm,’’ she said.

“Why?’’ asked Mr Goose.

“Because he didn't have any cannabis,’’ Wright replied.

“Things started to become more difficult to get hold of cannabis. That would send him on a rage, lose his temper. He started hitting Leticia. Smacking her and punching her.’’

Wright added that she did not walk out on Seaton because she was scared of what he might do.

As she described how she had returned from the shopping trip to find her daughter with bruises she had to sit down in the witness box as she wept.

She told the jury that she had found Leticia sitting on the sofa “silently crying to herself’’ when she got home.

Wright said her daughter was holding her stomach and had bruises to her head and face. The jury has been told that severe wounds to the abdomen and back of the head caused her death.

“I asked him what had happened,’’ said Wright. “He came up with some petty little excuse like she had fallen or something. Other questions he just didn't answer.’’

Wright said Seaton hit Leticia on the Friday.

“I just got up to her and told her everything was going to be OK, everything was going to be fine, so she didn't get too upset. She just said ‘OK mummy.’ ’’

But the next day Leticia collapsed and died, after Wright had given her a bath

Wright said: “I couldn't find a matching pair of pyjamas, so I dug out an old pair. I went back downstairs, got into the living room and Leticia was just laid on the floor. I shouted her name but got no answer.

“I picked her up and put her across my lap, but got no response. I was shouting at Peter, telling him that she's not breathing.’’

Leticia was rushed to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, but was later pronounced dead.

Wright said she had not told doctors what had happened because she was worried Seaton would kill her.

Wright, of Almondbury Bank, and Seaton, of Northallerton, have denied Leticia's murder and an alternative charge of causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.