Matthew Back: Former Wales rugby star denies school pupil assault

Christopher Evans, prosecuting, said the boy was angered by the teacher taking away his pictures and Mr Back “lost control” and grabbed him on the arm.

He said: “Back manhandled the child. He handled the situation completely the wrong way.”

Mr Evans said Mr Back “didn’t de-escalate” the situation but instead “lost control on a small child.”

The jury was told the boy had been sent to draw after an incident with another child, but rolled the paper into a “comical shape”.

Mr Back then allegedly snatched the paper from the boy before the child lashed out at teaching assistants and was taken to a sofa for “time out”.

Mr Back kept the boy on the sofa and blocked him from leaving the area until he calmed down and could go home at the end of the day, the jury heard.

But the child’s mother said he returned from school late, “very angry and very agitated” and later that night the boy’s father found bruising on his arm.

When the parents spoke to Mr Back, he initially told the mother he wasn’t aware of any incidents involving their son.

He first suggested the boy may have got the marks from hiding in a small space or “rough and tumble” with other children, before later saying an incident had taken place and the child had to be moved to the sofa.