A PLASTIC surgeon believes a toddler found face down in a bath died before suffering burns to his body and was probably in there for "some hours".
Burns specialist Colin Rayner told the jury at Sheffield Crown Court two-year-old Riley Lewis had 91 per cent burns to his body.
He also explained the toddler's body temperature was 41C.
The normal body temperature is 37C.
Riley's mum Kerry Abel is on trial, accused of his manslaughter.
Mr Rayner told the jury of eight women and four men there were no blisters on Riley's body, which indicated he was already dead before being scalded.
Mr Rayner said: "The level of injury indicates that he was probably in the water for some time, probably hours.
"In a living child, you would expect the skin to blister but this was not the case with Riley.
"If there is no blood circulation, there is no way of producing the fluid contained in blisters."
Riley was found floating face down in the bath at his home in Orchard Park Road, Orchard Park, Hull, on January 4 last year.
He had drowned and was pronounced dead at Hull Royal Infirmary at 12.37am the following day.
Miss Abel, 38, was initially arrested at the hospital on suspicion of his murder, but was charged with manslaughter on November 29.
Mr Rayner told the court the most plausible explanation was that the taps were running at the time Riley died and the temperature of the water increased, causing the burns over a period of time.
Miss Abel had previously claimed she had only left Riley unattended for five minutes.
Consultant pediatrician Dr Patricia Kenny told the court Riley was a normal and healthy child and explained he could have been capable of turning the bath taps on.
She said: "He had good hand/eye co-ordination and a child of Riley's age could be expected to operate a bath tap."
In police interviews, Miss Abel said although she bathed Riley every day, she had planned to give him a wash the night he died but put him in the bath because that was what he wanted and he "loved water".
She said she left the downstairs bathroom briefly to get some toys he was asking for from upstairs – "two guns and a couple of figures".
Miss Abel said she thought she was playing with Riley for about ten minutes before she "passed out".
She said she came round on the floor, with her head against the radiator, and with a "bump" on her head and a pain in her neck.
Richard Wright QC, prosecuting, told the jury when opening the trial that a "far more likely scenario" was that Miss Abel "put Riley in the bath and, affected by drugs, fell asleep".
Miss Abel, a former heroin addict, admitted after Riley's death that she had recently taken three drugs – the heroin substitute methadone, which was prescribed by her doctor, tramadol and a painkiller.
Tests of her blood and urine found she had taken six more – diazepam, temazepam, nitra-zepam, heroin, cocaine and cannabis. The painkiller was found to be pregabalin.
Toxicologist Denise Stanworth previously told the jury the mixture of sedatives and sleeping tablets could explain Miss Abel falling asleep.
The trial continues.
