A woman did not buy safety gates even though her four-year-old adoptive son was throwing himself down stairs, a court heard.

Michelle McWilliam said she did not feel there was a need.

She said she heard John Smith fall down the stairs, injuring himself, over several months.

But, she told Lewes Crown Court yesterday, she never once saw him fall and neither did her co-accused husband, Simon.

She did not see how John got bruises down his spine, nor did she see him when, on one occasion, he rubbed his face on a carpet, causing a severe burn to his face.

She said she asked John how he did it and the boy rubbed the same side of his face on the carpet again. She said she was shocked and put cream on the wound.

John died from a brain haemorrhage with 54 bruises and three adult bite marks on his body.

The McWilliams, of Gardner Road, Fishersgate, Southwick, deny cruelty and insist the boy self-harmed.

Cross examined by Camden Pratt, prosecuting, Michelle McWilliam said she took John to see a doctor twice when he first came to their home, once for a minor ankle injury.

But she never took John to the doctor in the five months before his death, even though he was vomiting and injuring himself.

Instead, she said she informed social workers and a health visitor and relied on their advice.

She suggested John had suffered the same problems before he came to them.

She said John's social worker, Dave Pamely, had not told them about the boy's problems.

Even so, she was thrilled at their first meeting: "It was love at first sight. It was wonderful, instantaneous."

She fought back tears as she described the moment she found John unconscious and dying in bed: "He was staring, his eyes were open. I remember shouting at him, calling his name."

She said she called an ambulance and prayed he would live.

The previous night, she said, John had been well and happy. His last words were: "Night, night mummy, see you in the morning."

The trial continues.