A cruel stepfather has been jailed after he left a 17-month toddler covered in bite marks and bruises.

The 36-year-old man, now living in Bridport, imposed his own regime of punishment and discipline on the child after starting a relationship in which he exercised control and domination over the little boy’s mother.

The mother failed to protect her son from him and tried to cover up his assaults even after a worried pharmacist had alerted the police after seeing the child covered in bruises.

The pair cannot be named to protect the identity of the child.

Parents at a pre-school in Southbourne, Bournemouth, first raised the alarm about the boy when his mother was living nearby. One contacted the NSPCC but the couple and the child had moved to Seaton in east Devon by the time they were arrested.

Doctors at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital found 18 different areas of injury on his head and body which they confirmed as being non-accidental.

A round mark on the boy’s shoulder had probably been caused by a bite and bruising on his cheeks was the result of his mouth being forced open when he was being fed.

There were also significant areas of bruising on the face which were consistent with punches, marks on the upper arm where the boy had been held forcibly, and bruises on the legs.

The boyfriend denied hurting the child and claimed he was a ‘whirlwind’ who kept bumping into pillars, tables and had fallen down the stairs onto a skirting board.

The mother, aged 25, formerly of Seaton but now living in mid Devon, and her former partner, aged 36, of Bridport, both denied child cruelty or neglect but were found guilty at Exeter Crown Court after a ten day trial in December.

They have now been sentenced.

The boyfriend was jailed for eight months and the mother was ordered to do 60 hours unpaid community work and 20 days of rehabilitation activities by Judge Timothy Rose.

He told the stepfather: “Before you came on the scene there was no evidence of the boy being ill-treated and the mother had a positive relationship with the child.

“Obviously, things went completely downhill in an aggressive and appalling way. You were engaging in repeated acts of violence towards the boy, who was struck or manhandled on a number of occasions.

“You took over the relationship with his mother and intervened in ways you should never have done in the child’s day to day care, discipline and punishment. You struck him and injured him and I have seen the livid bruises.”

He told the mother that she had already been punished by having the boy and a younger child taken away from her and had ‘lost everything’.

He said her partner was a ‘domineering force in the relationship and she was vulnerable to that’. She now accepts that she should have done more to protect her son.

During the trial, the jury were told that the boyfriend had inflicted the injuries and the mother had failed to protect her child from him or seek medical help earlier.

The mother had been bringing up her son on her own before she met her partner through Tinder in 2017. They moved into a flat together in Southborne and then to Seaton in January 2018.

Doctors found bruising on the cheeks, forehead, eyelid, under the chin, on the right shoulder, left arm and both legs. They were of different colours, from yellow to purple, indicating they had been inflicted at different times.

Many were consistent with a blunt force trauma which could have been caused by being hit with an adult fist or a hard object, and the bruise on the shoulder looked like a bite mark, but was not well enough defined to create an identifiable pattern of teeth.

The child was taken into foster care immediately, where it was noted that he was not particularly clumsy and did not suffer any new bruises.

The boyfriend chose not to give evidence in his defence but told the police boy had fallen down the stair, hit a skirting board, fallen out of bed onto a table, and bumped against furniture while running around.

He said: "He used to tumble around and hit things. He is a happy-go-lucky whirlwind who throws himself around. I wanted to be the best dad I could for him. I never bit him. I would rip my heart out and stamp on it before I would hurt that boy.”

Megan Fletcher, defending, said he himself had been diagnosed with PTSD from childhood experiences and would benefit from undertaking courses with probation in the community.

Kelly Scrivener, for the mother, said she now realises that the relationship was unhealthy and she had been naïve and easily led.