The court was told of "a cluster" of haemorrhages

The High Court in Edinburgh was also shown photographs of the bruised body of a 12-month-old Alexander Graham.

Tina McLeod, of Craigleith Hill Avenue, Edinburgh, denies murdering Alexander while looking after him there on 26 July 2001.

The charge alleges that, while responsible as his child minder, she repeatedly shook and twisted Alex and struck his head against an unknown blunt object or surface.

Consultant paediatric pathologist Jean Keeling, from Edinburgh's Royal Hospital for Sick Children, described a post mortem she helped carry out the day after the baby died.

Brain damage

The court heard how doctors found brain damage linked to bleeding inside the boy's skull.

Dr Keeling said that in the absence of a road accident or a fall from a height - such as falling out of a window - the injuries were likely to be the result of the brain moving within the skull.

"These injuries are likely to be non-accidental," she told the court.

Asked by advocate depute Gerry Hanretty QC, prosecuting, about the significance of "a cluster" of brain haemorrhages, the doctor said the abnormalities and their distribution were likely "following a shaking injury."

Life support

Earlier the trial heard that Kirstie Graham, 35, left her son at Tina McLeod's Edinburgh home about 0830 BST.

Just after 1100 BST she was telephoned to say there had been an accident and the little boy had been in hospital.

Mrs McLeod told her that Alexander had fallen from a settee and had stopped breathing.

Alexander died the following day when his parents agreed to his life support system being switched off.

Mr Hanretty asked Dr Keeling about medics who suggested that even a fall from a very small height could cause the sort of head injuries she found on Alexander.

The doctor said she did not think there was good evidence for that.

The trial continues.