Probation for insulin baby attack

Duncan was put on probation at the High Court in Edinburgh

A woman who injected a friend's baby with an insulin overdose because she was jealous of her healthy daughter has been put on probation for three years.

Veronica Duncan, who had lost her own daughter just months before, left the child close to death.

Duncan, 41, a former nurse at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, admitted assaulting the baby to the danger of her life in the Borders on 7 March.

Judge Roger Craik QC told her she had committed a "dreadful" crime.

He said Duncan, previously detained at a psychiatric hospital, had been suffering an "abnormal grief reaction" following the death of her own child.

We are bitterly disappointed at what we believe to be a lenient sentence for this level of pre-meditated crime against our baby daughter Baby's mother 'My daughter was lifeless'

The judge added that following intensive treatment it was thought she was not at risk of doing anything like it again.

He ruled that under the probation order Duncan should not have unsupervised contact with children under seven.

He also warned her that if she breached the order she could be brought back to court and face imprisonment.

Outside the court the child's mother expressed disappointment at the sentence.

"We are bitterly disappointed at what we believe to be a lenient sentence for this level of pre-meditated crime against our baby daughter," she said.

"She committed a pre-meditated crime which, but for the sharp thinking of the Borders General Hospital medical team, would have resulted in the certain death of our baby."

Duncan had originally been charged with attempting to murder the four-month old girl.

SENTENCING STATEMENT Read the judge's comments[28KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

However, a guilty plea to a reduced charge of assaulting the child to the danger of her life was accepted.

The court had previously been told how Duncan had lost her own 16-month old daughter Anna, who had died at their home in the Scottish Borders last year.

A few months later, on the day of the insulin attack, she had called at the child's family home and invited her mother to go to a coffee morning.

She offered to dress the baby while the mother got changed to go out.

It was at that point she is believed to have injected the child with insulin.

Later in the day the baby's mother realised something was wrong and an ambulance was called to take the girl to Borders General Hospital.

Advocate depute Alastair Brown said it was there that the swift action of doctors "undoubtedly saved the baby's life".