TODDLER Mikaeel Kular’s fatal beating was “an accident,” his mother’s lawyer has told a Scottish court.

Rosdeep Adekoya appeared at Edinburgh’s High Court yesterday, pleading guilty to charges of culpable homicide and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

The three-year-old’s disappearance from his Edinburgh home sparked a nationwide search in January before his body was found 25 miles away in a wooded area near Dunvegan Ave, Kirkcaldy, Fife.

But the court heard that Mikaeel had in fact died from injuries inflicted by Ms Adekoya following a restaurant outing where the child had repeatedly been sick in public, with Ms Adekoya hiding his lifeless body in a suitcase the next morning before dumping it in a thicket behind her sister’s home.

Advocate depute Alex Prentice said Mikaeel would have died “in significant pain,” with a coroner noting more than 40 separate injuries.

But defence QC Brian McConnachie said Ms Adekoya was “not a monster.” Ms Adekoya’s internet search history had included “I find it hard to love my son,” “Why am I so aggressive with my son” and “Get rid of bruises.”

Sentencing is scheduled for August 25.