Woman who left deaf and blind girl outside in Big Freeze is spared jail

Woman who left deaf and blind girl outside in Big Freeze is spared jail

A WOMAN who left a six-year-old deaf and blind girl outdoors overnight in shivering temperatures was shown mercy yesterday.

Kate Harper abandoned the child strapped in a pram outside her home wearing just socks and a dressing gown, then fell asleep in a house nearby.

She had taken the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to a fireworks party in King's Park, Glasgow, last Guy Fawkes night.

But it soon turned into a boozing session and, when the 26-year-old took the youngster back home, she found she had forgotten her keys and left the girl outside to return to her sister's house.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard temperatures that night fell to 3C and a school bus driver, who had come to collect the girl the next morning, found her with blue lips, suffering hypothermia.

The pram had tipped over and the child was shivering in it with her face pressed against the stone stairs at the front door.

The girl was treated for hypothermia at Glasgow's children's hospital at Yorkhill.

Mistake Sheriff Kenneth Mitchell yesterday told Harper her conduct had put the girl's life in danger and was "unacceptable and reprehensible".

He added: "But I am satisfied that this very serious crime can be properly regarded as an isolated one."

He deferred sentence for three months for Harper's good behaviour.

At an earlier hearing, Harper, from King's Park, admitted abandoning the girl outside her home last November 6. Ross Yuill, defending, said Harper had received abuse from neighbours after the incident.

He added: "She says it was the biggest mistake of her life."