A mother has been sentenced to six years in prison for the culpable homicide of her infant daughter, who died after being subjected to burns from a hairdryer. Courtney Gartshore, 28, was convicted of killing her three-month-old daughter, Dahlia-Rose, by using the appliance to inflict "significant and sustained heat" on the baby's head and body.
Emergency services were called to a property in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, in September 2023, where the child was found deceased. Gartshore was found guilty of culpable homicide, the Scottish legal equivalent of manslaughter, following a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen in July.
During sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Simon Collins KC described the case as "uniquely disturbing and distressing," noting that Gartshore had inflicted "severe and disfiguring" burns on her daughter. The judge also acknowledged the tragic paradox of the case, stating that evidence suggested Gartshore loved her daughter but would have to live with the knowledge of her responsibility for the child's death.