Mum jailed for killing baby daughter with hairdryer abandons appeal

An Aberdeenshire mum, who was jailed for killing her daughter, has abandoned plans to appeal her conviction and sentencing.

Courtney Gartshore, 28, was jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh on August 14 after being convicted of the culpable homicide of her daughter.

She used a hairdryer to subject three-month-old Dahlia-Rose Gartshore to “significant and sustained heat” on the head and body, fatally injuring her at an address on King Street in Peterhead on September 30, 2023.

The 28-year-old had denied culpable homicide but was found guilty following a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen in July.

She was jailed for six years. The court was made aware in August that she intended to appeal both the sentence and conviction.

It has now been confirmed that the notice of appeal has been dropped.

False claims during 999 call

The High Court in Aberdeen heard that Gartshore had made a 999 call, where she claimed that she had woken up that morning to find her daughter, Dahlia-Rose, dead in their home.

Gartshore told the operator: “I just woke up and her head is all purple.”

The operator asked if Dahila-Rose is “beyond help”, to which Gartshore replied “yeah”.

Gartshore went on to tell the operator, “…her skin is peeling off and everything.”

Dahlia-Rose died at just three months old. Supplied

The mum told the operator that the baby had been “perfectly fine” the day before.

One of the first paramedics on the scene described finding the baby as “distressing”.

She told the court Dahlia-Rose’s hand was “dark grey or black” and “all the skin was peeling off”.

The court had heard from a nearby neighbour who had described hearing Gartshore, with Dahlia-Rose in a pram, shouting near her home in Peterhead hours before the emergency call was made.

The woman told the court she and another neighbour went out to see Gartshore.

She said when she touched Dahlia-Rose’s face and noticed she was “frozen, pure white” and said she had told Gartshore her daughter needed a blanket.

The court also heard that material containing DNA belonging to the baby was found on the nozzle of a hairdryer.

Dahlia-Rose was pronounced dead at the scene when emergency services attended the property.

Gartshore had earlier been drinking while she had been in sole charge of the infant. The hairdryer was found in the bedroom of Gartshore’s home following the baby’s death.

An investigation into the child’s death was launched, and Gartshore, from Aberdeen, was arrested and charged in November 2023.