Two people from Barking were found guilty of horrific cruelty to a baby girl in a case which police and doctors described as one of the worst they had ever seen.

Raphael Belinga, 45 and Teodora Predescu, 34, were found guilty of GBH with intent at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Tuesday after subjecting the youngster to eight months of abuse.

Police discovered the one-year-old lying motionless on a bed covered with injuries, including extensive bruising to her head, face and body, two black eyes, a split upper lip, a cauliflower ear, and abrasions to her torso.

She was also dehydrated, anaemic and malnourished.

Emergency services, who initially thought the baby was dead, were called to a property in Barking on August 25 last year after concerns were raised about the child’s welfare.

She was taken to hospital and doctors described her injuries as some of the worst they had ever seen on a young child.

Belinga and Presdescu were arrested and charged on August 26. They said the tot had fallen down the stairs but were found guilty of GBH with intent after a two-week trial.

They admitted further charges of cruelty to a young person under 16 and causing or allowing serious physical injury to a child.

Detective Constable Debbie Crowder, from the child abuse investigation command, said: “These injuries are the worst I have seen inflicted on a young child where the child has survived.

“Not only was she badly abused she was also left living in pain while her injuries received no treatment or medical attention.

“She is lucky to have been found when she was as the medical evidence in the trial confirmed she would have died from her injuries.”

The pair will be sentenced next Wednesday.