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A five-year-old boy was left naked in a cupboard sealed with Sellotape while his family went on a day trip, a court heard.

The boy was left with chocolate and sweets while his 40-year-old mother and her female friend went to Blackpool, leaving him alone for 10 hours, it's alleged.

The jury at Bradford Crown Court was told that on another occasion he was beaten with a metal pole and struck over the head with a stiletto heel.

When his head was gashed by the blow from the shoe, the women bought Superglue to stick the wound together instead of taking him to hospital, his sisters told the police.

His mother and her friend, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the boy, deny 21 months of cruelty and neglect against him.

The boy’s mother, from Bradford, West Yorks, denies two offences of child cruelty, between August, 2012, and April, 2014.

Her friend, in her late 20s and also from Bradford, pleads not guilty to two similar charges of child cruelty and two allegations of unlawfully wounding the child.

(Image: PA)

Prosecutor Ian Howard said the women, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the boy, were arrested after doctors at Bradford Royal Infirmary suspected that a cut to his chin and weals on his back and arm were non-accidental.

The boy’s mother had taken him to the hospital on April 27, 2014, saying he had hurt his chin by falling over a coat hanger at home.

Both women gave no comment in interviews when questioned by the police.

The boy told a specially trained safeguarding officer that his mother’s friend got a stick from under the bed, wrapped it in tissue and hit him.

“Being hit with a stick made him sad and he cried,” he said.

His mother put a sticking plaster on to his chin but it would not stop bleeding and he had to be taken to hospital.

One of his sisters told the police she saw her mother’s friend hit her brother up to ten times with part of a metal rack.

She would also tape him in a cupboard to stop him getting out, the girl alleged.

He was shut in with his toys and she could hear him whispering, she said.

Both girls said the boy’s head wound had been stuck with Superglue by the women.

The second sister said he was made to take off his clothes and get into the cupboard.

She claimed he was shut in between 11am and 9.30pm on one occasion when the rest of the family went to Blackpool.

He was naked and left with sweets and chocolates, she said.

The jury will hear from staff at the boy’s school who allegedly noticed his injuries.

The trial, which is expected to last into next week, continues.