She admitted assault and magistrates handed her 60 hours' unpaid work

It struck child in back, leaving a red mark which remained for 10 minutes

She threw wax crayon in anger but did not mean to hit 18-month-old boy

Criminal record: Amanda Shepherd threw a red wax crayon which bounced off a table and hit a toddler

A nursery nurse's career is in ruins after she shouted 'shut up' at a whining toddler and threw a crayon which bounced off a table and hit him.

Amanda Shepherd, 24, was sacked and now has a criminal record after snapping at the 18-month-old boy, who was left with a red mark on his back for ten minutes.

Magistrates heard she had a six-year unblemished record and did not mean to hit the child.

But Shepherd, who was in the early stages of pregnancy and is now a doting mother herself, pleaded guilty to assault after she admitted being reckless during the incident last spring.

Scarborough magistrates heard Shepherd, of Fylingthorpe on the North York Moors, was trying to calm the boy down with colleague Angela Parkin.

'It would appear that the boy had been somewhat upset and was described as whining for the majority of the morning,' said prosecutor Martin Hawes.

'Both Miss Shepherd and colleagues had trouble settling him down. Around mid-morning, Miss Parkin and Miss Shepherd were sat in the baby room.'

Miss Parker was on one side of the room with a new baby admission and Shepherd was on the other with a child between her legs, the court heard.

Mr Hawes said: 'The boy was by the play gate, still whining and playing with some cars. Miss Shepherd threw a red crayon, saying "Shut up."

'The crayon hit the child in his back and the child fell forward and started to cry.'

Another nursery worker picked up the boy and calmed him down.

Mr Hawes told the court the child 'suffered a small red mark on his back which disappeared after ten minutes'.

The matter was reported to the manager of the nursery before police were called.

Mr Hawes added: 'It would appear that Miss Shepherd accepted immediately she knew what she had done was wrong.

'But because of the nature of the case, it was brought to the police's attention.

'Miss Shepherd always accepted she had thrown the crayon. She stated it was an accident that it happened to hit.

'Assaults can be committed recklessly or deliberately. There is no suggestion the crayon was intended to hit the child and cause him to fall over.

'It was a crayon after all. Other workers were concerned that having done it there was no suggestion Miss Shepherd tried to deal with the child.

Shepherd was handed 60 hours' unpaid work after admitting assault at Scarborough Magistrates' Court

'It was left to her colleague. It was accepted it was a reckless action.'

Chris Rafferty, mitigating, said his client only pleaded guilty on the basis it was a reckless act.

He added: 'I would ask you to consider this as an isolated incident.

'She is a young woman of 24 and prior to this incident she had six years of unblemished employment with the nursery and very much enjoyed it.

As a result of this one reckless action, throwing a crayon, she has now lost that employment. In some ways she has already been punished Defence lawyer Chris Rafferty

'As a result of this one reckless action, throwing a crayon, she has now lost that employment.

'In some ways she has already been punished for this offence. It seems this must fall to the very bottom of the seriousness scale.

'There were two aggravating features - she was a carer at the time and the child was 18 months old.

'She does not seek to hide away from these facts. But until today she was a person of good character and had six years of perfect service.

'This was an entirely unusual action for her to take. The injury was of an extremely minor nature.

'A red mark appeared as a result of the crayon hitting him which then vanished ten minutes later. There were no lasting effects.

'As of now, she has not found alternative employment.'