Mother jailed for six years after killing baby with hairdryer

In a case that a senior judge described as both "tragic" and "terrible", Courtney Gartshore, 28, has been jailed for six years at the High Court in Edinburgh after being convicted of the culpable homicide of her three-month-old daughter, Dahlia-Rose, whom she subjected to "significant and sustained heat" from a hairdryer at a property in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, in September 2023. Sentencing Gartshore, who appeared via videolink and was visibly distressed throughout the 25-minute hearing, Judge Simon Collins KC said she had inflicted "severe and disfiguring" burns on the infant's head, neck, upper body and one arm, covering approximately 18 per cent of her body surface, in an act that was a "gross aberration" from an otherwise satisfactory standard of care. The judge noted that, while the evidence suggested Gartshore loved her daughter, the "horrifying way that she died" made the case "uniquely disturbing and distressing", adding that the mother would have to live with the knowledge of her responsibility for the rest of her life.

The court heard that emergency services were called to the scene but the child had already died, and the Crown's expert position was that Dahlia-Rose's death resulted from hypothermia and heat stroke, rather than the burns themselves, a view supported by burns specialist Dr Timothy Burge, who told the trial that the heat injuries were likely survivable and that it was possible the baby was already dead when they were inflicted. Gartshore, who maintained that she had no recollection of using the hairdryer on her daughter and who had consumed alcohol before the incident, was recorded in a 999 call saying the child had gone "purple" while she was asleep, with the jury also hearing that the infant's DNA was found on the appliance. Her defence lawyer, Murray Macara, described the case as "truly tragic and distressing" and noted that Gartshore, who has a history of childhood trauma, mental health problems, overdoses and self-harm, had been held in custody for her own protection and spent approximately 23 hours a day in her cell, yet he could not offer a compelling explanation for her actions, speculating only that the hairdryer was "culpably and recklessly" used as a source of heat.

The jury, which was spared the graphic images of the injuries, took just over an hour to return a unanimous guilty verdict after a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen in July, rejecting the defence's argument that the baby may have already died before the burns were inflicted. In his sentencing remarks, Judge Collins emphasised that the case was not one of prolonged neglect or abuse but a singular, catastrophic failure of care, a distinction that underscored the "gross aberration" from Gartshore's typical parenting. Detective Inspector James Callander, speaking after the conviction, said the death of any child at the hands of a parent was "incredibly disturbing," and that everyone involved in the investigation was deeply affected by the circumstances, but stressed the duty to uncover the truth and ensure justice was served. Gartshore, who sobbed throughout the hearing, was sentenced to six years' imprisonment, a term that reflects the gravity of her actions while acknowledging the tragic and anomalous nature of the offence.