The mother of a three-year-old today admitted battering him to death and hiding his body in a bush.

The mother had reported her son missing, sparking a vast public search when he vanished from his Edinburgh home in January.

Rosdeep Adekoya, 34, beat her son Mikaeel Kular brutally when he was sick following a trip to a restaurant.

He was left with more than 40 injuries including internal wounds which killed him two days later - but she did not take him to a doctor because of his bruises.

She then wrapped his body in a duvet cover, put it in a suitcase and hid it in a bush behind her sister's house 25 miles away.

Adekoya was initially charged with murdering the toddler but admitted a reduced charge of culpable homicide - similar to manslaughter - at the High Court in Edinburgh today.

Adekoya admitted assaulting and killing Mikaeel at the family’s flat in Edinburgh and hiding his body in woodland.

She also pleaded guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice by pretending to police he had gone missing.

She admitted repeatedly punching her son and causing his body to hit against a hard object, or inflicting blunt injuries on his head and body, between January 12 and 15.

The woman’s internet history showed searches including 'I find it hard to love my son', 'I love all of my children except one', 'Why am I so aggressive with my son' and 'Get rid of bruises'.

The court heard that Mikaeel died on the night of Tuesday January 14 from injuries inflicted the previous Sunday.

His mother 'lost her temper' when he was repeatedly sick following a trip to a restaurant at the city's Fountain Park.

When Mikaeel was sick for a third time, she dragged him to the shower by his arms and 'beat him heavily' on his back as he lay over the bath edge.

Over the next days Mikaeel's condition worsened. He was assaulted again on the Monday after being sick and became 'listless'.

After discovering her son's body, Adekoya took his sister to nursery before driving straight to Fife where she dumped the body hidden in a suitcase.

(A massive hunt for the boy started after he was reported missing)

She waited until 7.15am on Thursday January 16 - two days after Mikaeel's death - to dial 999 and report her son missing.

Officers who attended the flat reported that she initially appeared 'very upset and distressed'.

But inconsistencies began to appear in her account to police, who by the Friday evening 'suspected that all was not as she had indicated'.

During a police interview she broke down and told officers: 'It was an accident and I panicked. I am going to go to the jail.'

She was asked where Mikaeel was and replied: 'In the woods behind my sister's house.'

Adekoya then took police to her son's body in the woods, telling them he was 'to the left under trees in a suitcase' which she had covered with branches.

The final cause of death was found to be 'blunt force abdominal trauma'.

Adekoya will be sentenced on August 25 at Edinburgh's High Court.