Social workers were blamed for the death of a four-year-old boy, a court heard.

Just hours before John Smith's life support machine was switched off, Simon McWilliam, the boy's adoptive father, turned on social worker John Barrow.

They were gathered in a family room at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, where doctors said the boy had sustained a serious head injury and might die.

Mr Barrow told Lewes Crown Court: "The whole family was upset, in particular Simon and his father. He blamed social workers. He said they (the McWilliams) had persistently asked for help with John's self-abusing behaviour."

McWilliam rounded on the social worker again later.

Mr Barrow said: "Simon rose and had to be restrained. He shouted abuse at me and the social workers department.

"He indicated we had failed to offer appropriate advice and guidance in relation to John's behaviour."

McWilliam and his wife Michelle, of Gardner Road, Fishersgate, Southwick, deny cruelty.

Mrs McWilliam wept in the dock as Mr Barrow described the moment John's natural parents, his grandfather, the McWilliams and himself gathered at John's bedside before he died.

John's birth parents expressed anger at the boy's facial bruising.

Camden Pratt, QC, prosecuting, asked if the bruises Mr Barrow saw on the boy at that time were the same as he had seen on John a few days earlier. Mr Barrow said: "No, much much worse.

"There were many more marks on the right side of his cheek and a huge bruise on the forehead.

"There were many more marks."

The boy died at 3.10am at Kings College Hospital, London, on Christmas Eve, 1999, after his life support was switched off.

Four days earlier, on December 20, Mr Barrow said he saw severe bruising on John's head and face during a visit.

The McWilliams, he said, told him they had heard a thump upstairs. They told how John had wet his bed, punched and pinched himself and how he had thrown himself on to a radiator.

Mr Barrow said the McWilliams did not think therapy would be useful for John but they would consider seeing a consultant themselves.

On December 23, the day before John's death, Mr Barrow spoke to McWilliam on the telephone.

Mr Barrow said: "He was panicked. He said John had been rushed to hospital by paramedics."

McWilliam had been out Christmas shopping and had arrived to find an empty house.

Neighbours said Michelle had found John unconscious in bed.

Mr Barrow said he drove McWilliam to hospital and, during the journey, the accused mentioned seeing a fine red line on the back of John's head on December 19, something Mr Barrow said McWilliam had made no reference to before.

The trial continues.