A man accused of murdering his girlfriend's baby boy told police he bit the youngster after finding him lifeless in his caravan, a court has heard.

Jack Benham claimed that when he later saw the baby's injuries he "looked like a boxer".

Alfie's lifeless body was discovered on November 20, 2020, in the caravan he shared with the baby's mother Sian Hedges in Hernhill, near Faversham.

A pathologist later revealed Alfie had 31 injuries to his head and neck, 11 injuries to his arms, 17 injuries to his legs and 11 to his torso.

Benham, 35, of High Street Road, Hernhill and Hedges, a 27-year-old cleaner, of Fillace Park, Yelverton, Devon, both deny murder and or allowing a child to die.

The couple had been drinking "three to four" glasses of Scotch and coke the night before and Benham admitted he smoked cannabis outside as Alfie was with his mother inside the caravan.

Benham claimed Alfie was still alive at 7am before he fell asleep again at around 10am.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard how he told a police officer: "When I found him he was there. I found him there. We were both laying there, he was there.

“And I went to look at him and like I said I noticed his eye was very red..the skin.

"So I picked him up to have a look at him and his lips were blue and he was very floppy..very, very floppy. And I knew straight away something wasn't right."

Benham continued: "And immediately Sian got up..I mean I was holding him into me and I was sort of shouting at him as we were running over towards my mum's house..'cos I wanted to hear a response. I wanted something. I mean I even bit him on the shoulder."

He was asked how many times he bit the 18-month-old baby and replied: "I don't know. I put my mouth on him once. I don't know if I bit him a couple of times. I don't think I bit him loads

He said the two of them were "shouting, screaming and panicking", adding: "Saying the word ‘Sian, Sian what the hell is wrong with him? What the hell is wrong with him?’ Basically. But in a very hysterical way."

The detective asked about the biting and Benham replied: "Yeah, I did. I bit him..I even shook him. I was saying ‘Alfie. Alfie' And nothing.

"Well I was just screaming in his head..as soon as I got into the house and give him to my mum I wanted to chuck water all over him and my mum's saying ‘No you need to phone the ambulance.’.”

The court has previously heard how Benham's mother started CPR and a critical-care paramedic arrived at the scene when it was “immediately apparent to them that Alfie had been dead for some time”.

Earlier in the day Hedges told officers how she had been eating a McDonalds meal "watching a DVD of Gavin and Stacey" and later Peaky Blinders before falling asleep.

Hedges told police in an interview how they had been drinking whisky and coke but said she wasn’t drunk.

Hedges was asked about Alfie's fractures to both his arms, and replied: "I don't see, I don't understand that yeah...I don't understand how he's fractured his arms but I would know if he'd fractured his arms. He'd be in pain, he'd be grabbing them..but he wasn't grabbing his arms."

Asked about the injuries which have been shown to the jury, she told police: "So, he's always doing it. He pulls, like the cushion off the sofa and he kept falling all the time and he smacks his head off things and he just falls.

"He's fallen off the toilet..he climbs over the shower thing and he falls down stairs whilst I was in the toilet. He just got back up and carried on what he was doing."

Hedges was asked by the officer: "Have you ever hurt Alfie?" She replied: "No, I've never hurt Alfie." She was then asked if she had ever seen Jack hurt Alfie and replied no.

The trial continues