Woman who burned baby with hairdryer jailed for four years

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”.