A NEIGHBOUR broke down in tears as she gave evidence against a man and woman accused of child cruelty.

Lisa Pratt, 36, and Andrew Clent, 30, each deny three counts of child cruelty and Pratt denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The pair, both of Mercury Close, Bampton, and who were a couple at the time, are accused of carrying out multiple acts of ‘physical and emotional abuse’ according to prosecutors.

The offences against three children are alleged to have taken place at a number of addresses in Witney between January 2010 and April 2015.

Yesterday, a former neighbour of the pair, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she saw a boy being held down by both Pratt and Clent in the back garden of a home they were living in.

As she gave evidence before a jury at Oxford Crown Court, she broke down in tears as she described the boy ‘screaming’ to the defendants that they were ‘hurting’ him.

She added she heard ‘noise’ from outside her home before she went upstairs to look out her bedroom window.

She added: “I just heard he boy [say] ‘you’re hurting me can you let me go’.

“He looked very scared.”

She said the pair were holding down the boy on the ground for about 20 minutes.

One of the defence barristers in cross examination suggested the event happened for less than 20 minutes, but the witness stated ‘what I saw was 20 minutes or probably more’.

Pratt and Clent deny the charges.

The trial at Oxford Crown Court continues.