Norbert Pulko (L) and Jan Dudi holding the gun said to have been used to scare Adam Cech into carrying out the acid attack

A father recorded a three-year-old boy screaming in pain on his phone after he was sprayed in the face with acid to provide 'evidence' the attack had been a success, a court heard.

Jan Dudi, 25, made the audio recording on Facebook Messenger as the child cried out 'I hurt, I hurt' after being covered in sulphuric acid.

The little boy was rushed to hospital after having the corrosive substance sprayed into his face at a Home Bargains store in Worcester.

Jurors heard Dudi recorded the aftermath of the attack to provide evidence to co-conspirators the 'cowardly' attack had taken place.

Prosecutors allege the seven defendants, including the boy's father, committed the crime in an attempt to prove the boy's mother could not protect her children in the course of a bitter custody battle.

The 29 second audio clip was played to Worcester Crown Court yesterday.

The boy's screams could be heard above the loud background noise in the shop.

Warwickshire Police have refused to release the audio to the press.

The recording was made on the former bouncer's phone three seconds after the boy was squirted with acid by Adam Cech, 27, at 2.16pm on July 21 last year.

Adam Cech admitted to jurors on Tuesday `it´s me´ squirting acid on the boy in CCTV footage of the attack

Adam Cech (R) and Norbert Pulko (L) in a newsagents following the attack

Last week in court Cech accepted the footage showed him carrying out the act but said he did not know what was in the bottle.

Dudi is on trial with Cech and five other defendants, including the child's father, a 40-year-old Afghan.

They deny conspiracy to apply a corrosive fluid with intent to burn, maim, disable or disfigure the boy or do him grievous bodily harm.

Giving evidence, Dudi claimed the recording was made by accident as he talked to his wife using the app while he asked her if he should buy toys for their children.

Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC told Dudi he must have pressed the icon to record the audio.

He asked: 'You just happened to do that three seconds after the attack was carried out?'

Speaking through a Slovak interpreter Dudi answered: 'While I was on the phone perhaps I pressed something, I don't know.'

When asked if he was suggesting he had not pressed the icon deliberately he answered 'yes'.

The attack took place in the Worcester branch of Home Bargains last July

He was asked if he knew whether it was possible to make an audio recording while still engaged in a Facebook Messenger call and he replied 'I don't know'.

Mr Rees said: 'I suggest that the reason you made that recording was to get evidence that the attack had been carried out.'

Dudi denied this was the case. Raising his voice slightly, Mr Rees said: 'You deliberately recorded that little boy crying after the attack, didn't you?'

Dudi replied: 'No'.

Dudi claims he entered the shop to carry out surveillance on a woman suspected of cheating by her estranged husband.

Mr Rees also asked him why he had left the shop so soon if his purpose for going in there was to 'watch the woman', the mother of the child who suffered the burns.

Dudi said the intention was to continue to watch her from the car but Pulko had said they should all go home because they were 'tired'.

Mr Rees also asked him why he was later paid £150 if he had left the store and 'aborted the (surveillance) mission'.

Mr Rees said: 'All three of you decided to get out of Home Bargains quickly because all three of you had succeeded in carrying out the acid attack.

'It's just rubbish isn't it Mr Dudi? Your account of why you left is absolute rubbish, isn't it?'

Dudi replied 'No'.

A court sketch showing (left to right) Norbert Pulko, Saied Hussini, the father of the boy (who cannot be identified), Martina Badiova, Adam Cech, Jabar Paktia and Jan Dudi

He was also asked why his 'best friend', Cech, had carried out an attack without telling him.

Didi said: 'I don't know. Probably he was worried I might stop him.'

The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of paying six others to attack the boy in a bid to shame his estranged wife.

Prosecutors say he hoped to show she was an unfit mother who could not protect her children in order to try and win custody of them.

Cech, Dudi, and Martina Badiova, 22, all of Handsworth, Birmingham, deny plotting an acid attack, along with Norbert Pulko, 22, of Tottenham, North London.

The boy's father and Jabar Paktia, 41, both of Wolverhampton, also deny the charge as does Saied Hussini, 41, of Harlsden, West London.

The trial continues.