Heroin in baby feed woman jailed

Christie and her boyfriend were taking heroin

A woman has been jailed for two years for neglect after heroin got into a baby's feed bottle.

When the baby became ill, Shirley Christie initially failed to tell hospital staff what was wrong.

Christie, who shared a flat with her drug addict boyfriend, admitted neglect at the High Court in Edinburgh.

She told the court she had kicked her own addiction but the judge said he had no choice but to jail her because she had failed to turn up for drug tests.

Lord Nimmo Smith said the 21-year-old had not kept promises she made to the court.

I have done everything I can to find a means of imposing a non-custodial sentence on you Lord Nimmo Smith

Christie, of Ellen Street, in Dundee, was supposed to be looking after the child in June 2001 but passed out after taking heroin.

She and her boyfriend noticed that the baby girl - who cannot be named for legal reasons- had "turned a funny colour" and stopped breathing.

Lord Nimmo Smith said: "Her life was in danger. At least you and your boyfriend had the sense to take her to a doctor, then to hospital.

"But you didn't tell the hospital staff that you had drugs in the house, which would have led to the child being given treatment earlier - which meant her life remained in danger."

When Christie owned up, medical staff found traces of opiate and tranquilliser in the baby's feed bottle.

Good behaviour

How it got there was not established but it was not suggested that Christie had deliberately given the child the drugs.

Christie pleaded guilty to the neglect charge in December 2002 and the judge deferred sentence when he heard that she had beaten her addiction, ordering her to be of good behaviour.

However, on her return to court it was revealed that she had failed to turn up for drug tests, although solicitor-advocate Jack Brown, defending, said she denied taking drugs again.

He said Christie was being treated for depression and suggested probation.

But the judge told her: "I have done everything I can to find a means of imposing a non-custodial sentence on you."

Lord Nimmo Smith said he had told her she would not go to jail if she had kept her promise a year ago.

"Well, that hasn't happened, has it?" he asked.