A teenage dad broke his baby son’s arm because he could not cope with being a parent, a Court has heard.

Nathan Ellerton was 19, and the child’s mother 16, when they set up home in Bradford with their son.

Ellerton, now 20, of Burass Road, East Bowling, struggled with lack of sleep and treated the baby roughly, prosecutor Gerald Hendron told Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

He threw the child for its mother to catch, dropped him on a beanbag and thought it was funny to hold him by his legs, the court heard.

In May last year, the couple spent a difficult night when the six-week infant woke three times.

The following day, Ellerton picked up his son and twisted his right arm, causing a spiral fracture.

Doctors at Bradford Royal Infirmary called in social workers and the police and he was arrested.

He said he caused the injury accidentally when he tripped carrying his son downstairs, but later pleaded guilty to causing the baby grievous bodily harm by being reckless.

Ellerton’s barrister, Nick de la Poer, said his client felt he was too young to be a father.

Although he was allowed supervised contact with his son, he thought it was not in the child’s best interest. Full of remorse, he would spend the rest of his life reflecting on what he had lost.

The judge, Recorder Graham Hyland QC, told the defendant: “You are a decent young man who, on this occasion – out of frustration and a degree of anger – lost it.”

He was full of remorse and had the decency and courage to plead guilty, the judge noted. Ellerton was sentenced to a 12-month Intensive Alternative to Custody order and 80 hours’ unpaid work.