Woman jailed for burning baby with hairdryer

A woman who burned a nine-month-old boy with a hairdryer and fractured the child's skull has been jailed for four years.

Lyndsay Lawrence, from Camelon, near Falkirk, carried out the violent assault on the infant when she was supposed to be looking after him.

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh told Lawrence, 29, that he assessed her culpability for head injuries sustained by the baby as "high".

Lord Tyre also said there could be no excuse for her actions.

The judge said: "To make matters worse they were committed when you were in a position of trust to the child."

Following the attack the court heard the baby suffered a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and significant burns to his bottom.

Lawrence, was originally charged with attempting to murder the baby on 4 December 2020 at an address in Falkirk.

A jury at her earlier trial acquitted her of that charge but found her guilty of assaulting the child to his severe injury and to the danger of his life.

Lawrence was convicted of inflicting trauma to the head of the baby by means to the prosecutor unknown and by shaking him.

She was also found guilty of wilfully exposing the child in a way likely to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury by burning his body with a hairdryer.

Lawrence was acquitted of a further allegation that she exposed the child to cocaine and amphetamine and caused him to ingest the drugs.

She had denied the offences at the trial and the court heard she continues to deny causing injuries to the child.

In her evidence, Lawrence told the court that the child suddenly became unwell and made "a weird noise".

She added: "His full body went tense and then it was like he went weak."

Lawrence contacted her mother and a neighbour, who was a nurse, and a 999 call was made to summon emergency help.

She denied that she hit or dropped the child.

During cross examination, advocate depute Lynsey Rodger said: "The only thing you can do now is to say you don't know what happened because the alternative is to admit you hurt him."

Lawrence responded: "No, that's not right."

She denied causing injury to the child.

Ms Rodger told the court that the evidence suggested that the baby was normal until he was left alone with Lawrence, who was supposed to be looking after him for his mother.

The prosecutor said: "(The baby) had been normal and then all of a sudden, for no reason the accused can explain, there was a change in his demeanour."

"There was a high pitch shriek, a grunt or a noise. His eyes went back. He was rigid and then he was floppy. He wasn't normal at that point," she said.

Ms Roger continued: "There is only one person that knows what happened to the baby on December 4. That person is the person who caused the injuries.

"The evidence, when you put it together, tells you that the person who caused the injuries is the accused.

"We know the injuries were non-accidental. They were deliberate. They were an assault upon him."

During the trial, Judge Lord Tyre told jurors that it was "a rather distressing and unpleasant case".

The judge said among his papers was a report from a consultant pediatrician who saw the infant months after he was injured.

The report stated that the child had made a good recovery and was deemed to be a "happy and alert child".

Det Con Jonathan McRitchie said: "Lawrence’s actions resulted in serious injuries to a defenceless child and she will now face the consequences.

"This type of behaviour is completely unacceptable and her conviction should send out a clear message that Police Scotland is committed to bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to justice."