A 13-week-old baby whose mum is on trial accused of causing his death had traces of illicit drugs in his blood and hair, post-mortem tests confirmed.
Amy Beck, 32, is on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen facing charges that she exposed her infant son Olly-James to the party drugs M-cat and MDMA, resulting in them entering his bloodstream prior to his death.
She is also accused of wilfully neglecting two other children, who were also found with drugs in their system.
Beck additionally faces one charge of dealing M-cat and a further charge of having cocaine in her possession.
She denies all the charges against her.
Children had drugs in their bloodstream
On the second day of the trial, jurors heard that a post-mortem examination carried out on the child found he had traces of Mephedrone (M-cat) within his blood when he died.
A subsequent hair sample test confirmed the presence of M-cat, while also finding traces of MDMA.
Scientists also found traces of M-cat, MDMA and cocaine in the hair samples of two other children who were in her care.
An analysis report by forensic toxicologist Kathryn Higgins found all three children had higher than usual amounts of M-cat in their systems – with the results found in one child attributed to ingestion or “heavy exposure”.
After being found unresponsive, Olly-James was rushed by air ambulance from Sandhaven, near Fraserburgh, to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary three days before Christmas in 2019.
He died later that day.
Subsequent testing found M-Cat within the infant’s baby formula.
While questioning Dr Duncan Stephen, who carried out the post-mortem on Olly-James, advocate depute Erin Campbell informed him that the baby’s milk was found to contain M-cat following his death.
“Would your findings be consistent with a baby having ingested the drug?” she asked.
“Yes,” Dr Stephen replied.
Ms Campbell then asked Dr Stephen if it was possible that Olly-James could have been exposed to the drug while in the womb and still have it in his system 14 weeks after being born.
“Probably not,” Dr Stephen replied.
Beck’s defence advocate David Moggach quizzed Dr Stephen over whether Olly-James’ exposure to the drug could have been small and “cumulative” over time.
“No,” he replied.
“Could it be possible it was introduced on one occasion?” the solicitor asked.
“It could be one occasion, or it could be multiple occasions,” Dr Stephen replied.
Witness was highly upset
During cross-examination by Mr Moggach earlier in the day, Beck’s former friend Olivia Guntrip – who was at the house when Olly-James was found unresponsive – became highly upset, claiming that her “whole life had been ruined over this”.
Referring to her claim that his client was a drug dealer, Mr Moggach put it to her that text messages between Beck and Guntrip that night seemed to suggest that she (Guntrip) was the one selling drugs.
“You would be suggesting wrong. Amy sells drugs,” she replied.
The trial, before Judge Fiona Tait, continues.
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