An eight-week-old baby taken by ambulance to hospital after suffering fits had “very unusual” injuries that looked like blunt trauma, a consultant paediatrician told a jury yesterday.

Dr Mathew Mathai said the boy had suffered a bleed in his head and had red marks called petechiae on his chin and neck, usually caused by gripping.

Dr Mathai told Bradford Crown Court he warned the baby’s parents their son was very unwell and might need to be transferred.

The child’s 23-year-old father, who cannot be named to protect his son’s identity, denies causing him grievous bodily harm with intent on June 28, 2011.

The club doorman is accused of losing his temper with the infant and throwing him or shaking him severely.

Prosecutor Nick Askins alleges the infant suffered a subdural haemorrhage and bleeding to the back of his eyes when his father was caring for him at his Bradford home.

Dr Mathai told the court the baby’s father said his son was screaming on the changing mat. When he picked him up, he went stiff and his left hand curled up like he was holding something.

The defendant’s mother told the court her son and his partner were good parents to their baby son.

They had coped really well with him, sharing his care.

She said her son had been left in sole care of the infant on previous occasions when his mother went to a local shop.

The trial continues.