A County Durham mum has been found guilty of murdering her own toddler after subjecting him to a campaign of violence and cruelty.

Christina Robinson, 30, killed her three-year-old son Dwelaniyah on November 5, 2022, at their home on Bracken Court in Ushaw Moor, County Durham.

Despite wanting more than 10 children she proved herself unfit to be a mother as she beat and burned the tot, and repeatedly left him home alone, before he died of a head injury and infected burns.

A jury spent just over 11 hours deliberating before finding her guilty of murder, and four charges of child cruelty, after a three-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

She denied all the charges and will face a life sentence for murder. She will be sentenced in two months.

The Northern Echo: Dwelaniyah Robinson.Dwelaniyah Robinson. (Image: PA)

High Court Judge Mr Justice Neil Garnham told Robinson: "You have, as you have just heard, been convicted by this jury of murder and four counts of child cruelty."

Prosecutors said she lost her temper and shook her son on the day he collapsed. An expert witness refuted her claims his burns were inflicted in the shower as a physical impossibility.

“The violence was ramped up until he could stand it no more and he died,” Mr Richard Wright KC, said.

Last week she sacked her legal team the day she gave evidence.

Jurors decided the mum, originally from Tamworth, was lying when she told them, “I didn’t kill my son” on Tuesday.

The court heard how Dwelaniyah was “subjected to a campaign of violence and cruelty” by his mum for “petty wrongs”.

Throughout the trial, she denied ever shaking him on the day he died.

After he collapsed, she claimed while eating a cheese bap, she waited 19 minutes before calling 999 for paramedics, the trial was told.

The Northern Echo: Christina RobinsonChristina Robinson (Image: DURHAM POLICE)

When police also arrived one officer said she appeared “quiet, calm and unpanicked” despite medics battling to save Dwelaniyah’s life in the next room.

Robinson, a follower of the Black Hebrew Israelites religion, admitted beating him with a cane on the day he died because he was “messing about” with his food. She said she believed it was the “right thing to do” according to religious teachings.

She submerged him in “scalding” hot water causing severe burns to his bottom and lower legs, which experts said would have needed surgery. But she failed to seek proper treatment for him, instead bandaging them herself, all while contacting doctors herself after falling pregnant.

The former personal trainer admitted lying in police interviews because she said she “didn’t believe that anyone would believe the truth”.

Prosecutor Mr Richard Wright KC said Robinson’s use of violence against the boy escalated in the weeks leading up to his death.

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“The violence was ramped up until he could stand it no more and he died,” Mr Wright said.

Robinson, who was married but had split from her husband several times, previously told how she wanted more than 10 children and refuted claims Dwelaniyah, her first-born, was an “inconvenience”.

She had been speaking to a man she met on a dating site and had fallen pregnant through a sperm donor.

She will be sentenced on Friday, May 24.