Mother jailed six years for killing baby Dahlia-Rose with hairdryer in Peterhead

Courtney Gartshore, 28, was sentenced to six years after being convicted of culpable homicide. She used a hairdryer on her three-month-old daughter for up to an hour.

Peterhead mother sentenced over hairdryer death of three-month-old daughter

Courtney Gartshore, 28, has been jailed for six years after being convicted of culpably and recklessly causing the death of her three-month-old daughter, Dahlia-Rose, bbc.co.uk reports. Gartshore used a hairdryer to subject the infant to "significant and sustained heat" on her head and body at a property in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, in September 2023.

Sentencing Gartshore at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Simon Collins KC described it as "a uniquely disturbing and distressing case" given the child's very young age and the manner of her death. He added: "But it is tragic as well as terrible. And that is because the evidence suggested that the accused loved Dahlia-Rose, yet will have to live the rest of her life with the knowledge that she was responsible for her death."

Conviction and charge

Gartshore was convicted of culpable homicide — the closest equivalent to manslaughter under Scots Law — following a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen in July. The jury found her unanimously guilty of subjecting Dahlia-Rose to heat from the appliance while the child was in her sole care, with injuries so severe that the infant died as a result.

The Crown's expert position, relayed by Judge Collins, was that Dahlia-Rose died from hyperthermia and heat stroke rather than from the burns themselves. The court heard that the hairdryer had been used on the baby for up to an hour, leaving burns across approximately 18% of her body surface — concentrated on her head, neck, upper body and one arm.

The infant's DNA was found on the hairdryer. During the trial, the jury was played a recording of a 999 call in which Gartshore said her child had gone "purple" while she was asleep. The jury was spared from viewing photographs of the injuries.

Defence arguments

Gartshore's defence lawyer, Murray Macara, described the case as "truly tragic and distressing." He told the court that Gartshore had no recollection of using the hairdryer on her daughter and that he could offer no reasonable or compelling explanation for why she did so, though he speculated it may have been used "culpably and recklessly" as a source of heat.

The defence argued during the trial that the baby may have already been dead before the burn injuries were inflicted. Burns specialist Dr Timothy Burge, appearing as an expert witness, told the court that in his view the heat injuries did not cause the baby's death. "It could have been that she was already dead," he said. The jury returned a guilty verdict in just over an hour.

The court also heard that Gartshore had consumed alcohol before the incident. Macara noted that his client had a history of childhood trauma, mental health problems, overdoses and self-harm, but argued that she had provided appropriate care to Dahlia-Rose up until the night of her death.

Judge's assessment

Judge Collins told Gartshore, a first offender, that the baby's death was not the result of repeated neglect or abuse over weeks or months, but rather a "gross aberration" from what had otherwise been a "mostly satisfactory" standard of care.

Gartshore appeared via videolink at the 25-minute sentencing hearing, dressed in a navy prison uniform. She sobbed and wiped away tears throughout the proceedings. Since being taken into custody, Macara said she had spent approximately 23 hours a day in her cell for her own safety and protection.

Police response

Detective Inspector James Callander spoke after the conviction: "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 that everyone involved in the investigation had been deeply affected by the circumstances of Dahlia-Rose's death. "Our job is to uncover the truth and ensure that the person responsible is brought to justice," Callander said.

Source: Sky News