Baby's skull smashed in three places

A MAN smashed a seven-month-old baby girl's skull in three places while he was babysitting her, a court heard.

At the High Court in Glasgow 24-year-old Douglas Cooper, of Bonnyrigg, was convicted of attempting to murder the baby, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Throughout his trial Cooper protested his innocence and claimed that the sickening injury had been caused by the child falling from his arms and hitting her head on a door.

He told the jury that it was just an accident.

But the jury didn't believe his story and found him guilty of the murder bid which took place on January 12, last year, at a house in Midlothian.

Temporary judge John Beckett QC will sentence Coopera first offender, later this month.

Earlier in evidence the baby's mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had left Cooper looking after the baby but that she received a phone call from Cooper about 8.55pm and added: "He sounded panicky. He said there is something wrong with her. He said she wasn't breathing properly and didn't look right."