A toddler caught red-handed after handprints mysteriously appeared on a freshly painted wall tried to blame - the dog.

Video shows Nellie Toyne, three, repeatedly blaming pet Winston for the damage - pointing the finger at the six-year-old Shih Tzu.

Mum Dolph Malone, 41, caught her guilty daughter after tiny handprints were splattered all over the stairway wall.

Dolph, a sales advisor, had freshly painted the walls the day before the handprints appeared.

She said: "I have just moved and started painting the walls white. I didn’t realise for an hour or so she has done it."

"I didn't expect Nellie to blame Winston, but I knew I had to record her reaction to my question as to who did it as I knew it would be something funny."

Dolph couldn't help but find the whole situation funny and couldn't bring herself to reprimand Nellie.

"I found it hilarious, but I was trying to be serious to break her! Clearly she stood strong and held it together," Dolph, who lives in Lincoln, Lincs., said."

As the family had just moved in, Dolph had a spare can of paint that she could re-touch up the walls.

"I’m the cleaner around these parts ha! But when I did go to clean it she said to Winston "Did you do that Winst?' She’s so funny." She added."

The footage was captured on April 6.