A couple who abused one daughter then hid her injuries by switching her with her identical twin have been found guilty of child cruelty.

For an unexplained reason, Blackburn taxi driver Mohammed and his wife Nafisa Karolia rejected and abused one child while caring for the other.

The baby – referred to as Twin M – suffered broken ribs, legs, arms, brain damage, and injuries to the head, ears and nose during her seven months of life. They were sustained over three separate occurrences.

According to the Daily Mail, the parents concealed the abuse from authorities by presenting their healthy child for all assessments.

They also had a range of excuses for only one child being home at any one time.

The jury heard that on one occasion, the couple claimed Twin M was visitng her grandparents when health workers visited.

Another time when both twins were booked in at the doctor's surgery, Mrs Karolia said the second twin was absent because of teething issues.

Two weeks before Twin M died, a social worker arrived for a visit, only to be told that the other twin (referred to as Twin A) was Twin M.

Weeks later, Twin M stopped breathing and was rushed to hospital. Twin M died from broncho-pneumonia which wasn't as a result of her injuries, however at the hospital the Karolias

claimed the dead girl was Twin A.

The swaps were only uncovered when social workers noticed discrepancies between the measurements of the twins.

Prosecutor Joe Boyd said: "Growth charts for both twins make it clear that the parents have at some stage swapped the babies.

"They have very probably done so to seek to conceal the mounting injuries being suffered by the child who died – always the bigger twin but, for some reason, rejected and abused by them."

After the case, Detective Inspector Pete Broome said the investigation was one of the most he had come across.

"I can only describe this as a bestial crime.

"A seven-month-old child, a babe in arms, completely and utterly incapable of defending herself has been subjected to the most horrendous violence.

"The only two people who know if these babies were swapped over are the parents. Therein lies some of the worst aspects of this case, because the surviving twin may never know who she really was at birth.

"They have never shown a flicker of remorse. The emotions they showed were for themselves and the predicament they find themselves in."

The pair will be sentenced in October, but have been told to expect 'a length jail sentence'.