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| Insulin harm woman on probation | |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. | |
| SENTENCING STATEMENT href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/15_11_07_veronica_duncan.pdf">Read the judge's comments[28KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here | |
| The judge added that following intensive treatment it was thought she was not at risk of doing anything like it again. | 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 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. | He also warned her that if she breached the order she could be brought back to court and face imprisonment. |
| Duncan had originally been charged with attempting to murder the four-month old girl. | |
| However, a guilty plea to a reduced charge of assaulting the child to the danger of her life was accepted. | |
| Doctors in the Borders "undoubtedly saved the baby's life" | |
| 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". |