Courtney Gartshore has been sentenced to six years in prison over the Courtney Gartshore baby death case, after she subjected her three-month-old daughter Dahlia-Rose to severe burns using a hairdryer at an address in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.
Gartshore, 28, was sentenced at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, where judge Simon Collins KC described the case as ‘uniquely disturbing and distressing’ and ‘tragic as well as terrible’.
What happened at King Street, Peterhead
Emergency services were called to an address on King Street in Peterhead on 30 September 2023, but Dahlia-Rose was already dead when they arrived, Metro News reports. Gartshore had used the appliance to subject the infant to ‘significant and sustained heat’ on her head and body. Dahlia-Rose suffered severe burns to 18% of the surface area of her body, including her head.
At her trial at the High Court in Aberdeen in July, the jury heard a recording of a 999 call in which Gartshore said her child had gone ‘purple’ while she was asleep. The infant’s DNA was found on the hairdryer. Gartshore had consumed alcohol before the incident.
A jury took just over an hour to unanimously find Gartshore guilty of culpably and recklessly causing Dahlia-Rose to be subjected to heat from the appliance while the child was in her sole care. The charge stated that Dahlia-Rose’s injuries were so severe that she died as a result. The jury was spared having to see photographs of the injuries.
Courtney Gartshore baby death sentencing
Gartshore appeared via videolink at the 25-minute sentencing hearing in Edinburgh, during which she sobbed and wiped away tears. Judge Collins told her she would have to live for the rest of her life knowing she was responsible for her daughter’s death.
Defence counsel Murray Macara KC told the court that Gartshore had no recollection of using the hairdryer. He said he could not provide ‘any reasonable or compelling reason’ for its use, and could only speculate that the baby had been cold and the device was used to provide a sense of heat.
During the trial, Gartshore’s defence had argued the baby may already have been dead before the burn injuries were inflicted. Expert witness Dr Timothy Burge, a burns specialist, told the court it was his view that the heat injuries did not cause the baby’s death. ‘It could have been that she was already dead,’ he said. The jury rejected that line of argument.
Speaking after the conviction, Det Insp James Callander of Police Scotland said: ‘Children are defenceless and should be protected. The death of any child is particularly harrowing, but a child’s death at the hands of a parent is incredibly disturbing.’
He added: ‘Everyone involved in this investigation was deeply affected by the circumstances of Dahlia-Rose’s death, but our job is to uncover the truth and ensure that the person responsible is brought to justice.’
Gartshore will serve her six-year sentence having been convicted of culpable homicide.
