A RUNCORN mum strenuously denied hurting her toddler on the day he died as she gave evidence at Chester Crown Court.

Nichola Bowman, aged 24, refuted allegations that she may have injured her two-year-old son, Joshua Jones, found dead on November 6, 2007, at Tilbury Place, Murdishaw, the home she shared with her boyfriend Wayne Davenport.

QC Neil Flewitt, representing Davenport, cross examined her in the witness box.

He said: “On the night of November 6, did you get yourself in a mood, worked up and lost your temper?

Bowman replied: “No, you’re wrong. I would never take it out on Joshua.”

Bowman denies causing or allowing Joshua’s death.

Her now ex-boyfriend, Davenport, aged 26, of Hale Road, Widnes, denies manslaughter.

Bowman admitted taking anti depressants since October 2006, after suffering post natal depression.

She said she felt down before Joshua was born.

Bowman said: “I was under a lot of pressure when I was pregnant.

“My mum was pregnant at the time. I was 20. I was paranoid and felt people might think I was a young mum.”

Medication helped to control her mood swings, she said, and she continued taking them until she was arrested.

“My tablets stopped me from being so emotional.

“They calmed me down.

“Stupid little things like I hadn’t cooked the tea properly or someone might say something to me and I’d cry for no reason.”

Bowman recalled how she had threatened to take an overdose when she was at school.

I was depressed,” she said.

“It was to do with my mother and father splitting up.”

After Joshua was born, she admitting fighting with a neighbour who refused to turn down loud music.

Bowman said: “She was making a racket. I told her I had a young child who wasn’t sleeping.

“She was screaming at me and I was screaming at her.

“She just went for me. I remember falling backwards onto a bin shed.

“She kicked the side of my face.

“I grabbed her hair. I was pulling her head as hard as I could so she’d let go .

“I was defending myself.”

Bowman and her neighbour both received a police caution following the brawl.

When Mr Flewitt asked her if she was prone to violence under pressure, she replied: ‘No.’ He asked her if she had noticed any bruises or marks on Joshua’s body when she changed his nappy, the week before he died.

Bowman said: “No, I would have remembered.”

She said he had a black eye after falling out of bed in October and she had taken him to the doctor.

It was the first of two accidental black eyes he had within weeks, she said.

Joshua suffered a bang to the head and died from brain swelling, the court heard.

Two weeks earlier, he was taken to hospital with a double break to his left arm.

In hospital, doctors discovered bruises and marks on his body.

He had two bruises to his penis, three bruises to his thighs, three to his knees and bruises to his back and arms.

The trial continues.