Mother jailed after baby son's drug-related death

Amy Beck has been jailed for seven years

A drug-dealing mother whose baby son died after being exposed to narcotics at her home in Aberdeenshire has been jailed for seven years.

Amy Beck, 32, was convicted of exposing three-month-old Olly-James Sievewright to mephedrone - also known as M-Cat - and MDMA, commonly called ecstasy, in Sandhaven.

He died in December 2019 as a result of ingesting drugs combined with the effects of a peritonitis infection.

Jailing Beck at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Fiona Tait said prison was the only possible outcome.

Beck, from Fraserburgh, was earlier found guilty at the High Court in Aberdeen of exposing Ollie to illicit substances between September 2019 and his death three months later at an address in St Magnus Road in Sandhaven.

She was also convicted of being involved in the supply of the Class B drug mephedrone over a period of almost three years and further charges of exposing children to drugs.

The trial heard that her former home in Sandhaven was "polluted" by drugs.

'Difficult case'

Jurors heard that mephedrone might have compromised the baby's ability to deal with the implications of contracting peritonitis, when tissue inside the abdomen becomes inflamed.

Defence counsel David Moggach said any deliberate intention on Beck's part to carry out ill-treatment was never a part of the Crown case.

He said the first offender was assessed as posing a medium risk, and added: "She is not without her own problems."

Mr Moggach told the court: "It is an unusual case and a difficult case to deal with."

Judge Fiona Tait told Beck: "A custodial sentence is the only appropriate disposal in your case."