Mum returns from holiday in New York after toddler is 'beaten to death'

A woman who was on holiday in New York had to fly home just hours after arriving when she received a call saying her 23-month-old daughter had been injured at her house.

Sophie Archer, 22, was in the American city celebrating her 21st birthday with her father and had left her daughter with her boyfriend Ben Raftery, 21, while she was on the five-day break.

She caught the first flight home and found her daughter Roxie was on a life support machine. Roxie passed away hours later.

A court heard that Mr Raftery had "forcibly and repeatedly punched" the toddler.

According to the Daily Mail, he called emergency services to say Roxie had fallen down the stairs at her home in Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester.

After she had died, Tameside Hospital found that Roxie suffered extensive bruising and retinal haemorrhaging.

The BBC reports that Kate Blackwell QC, prosecuting, said paramedics found it strange that Roxie had been carried up the stairs after Raftery said she had fallen down them.

She added: "Her breathing rate was slowing, she was very pale and had a blue tinge to her skin. She was in a very sick and critical condition.

"He was heard to say, 'I'm scared, they are going to do me for this'. He failed to apologise for what had apparently happened to Roxie in his care."

Raftery denies murder and the trial is scheduled to last up to two weeks.