Drunk ex-escort left toddler with razors

A sheriff told Nicola Brims that she could have been responsible for the toddler following in the tragic footsteps of Declan Hainey and Brandon Muir and being found dead.

Brims, 32, was so drunk that passers-by who saw her staggering around with the child called the police because they were concerned for his safety.

When police arrived at her address they found the door lying open and Brims sleeping soundly, with the three-year-old left to watch a film on television within inches of open razor blades, prescription medication and open alcohol bottles.

Brims, of Lower Granton Road, admitted that on March 22, 2011 she was unfit to supervise a child because she was heavily under the influence of alcohol. She admitted exposing him to uncapped razors, medication and alcohol, and leaving him in insecure premises.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told Brims, who was supposed to be looking after the child, that her irresponsibility could have led to tragedy for the youngster. He dismissed her solicitor’s plea to have her admonished.

He said: “You just have to look at what happened in Paisley last year. These things have to be looked at in a more serious light than they have in the past.

“There have been far too many instances in the past few years of children’s lives being lost, in part because of neglect. There is an element of that here.”

Perth Sheriff Court was told that the child could easily have walked out of the house in Bridge of Earn Road, Dunning, Perthshire, and into the road.

Fiscal depute Stuart Richardson told the court: “In the afternoon she had been seen by people who live and work near where she stayed.

“She had been out and about with the boy and she was manifestly drunk. One of the people phoned the police because they were concerned for the welfare of the child.

“The first thing they found was that the door of the house was lying open. When they went in, they found Brims and the boy together on the couch.

“She was very, very drunk and it took the police ages to wake her up. If he had wanted to, the boy could have left through the open door.”

Brims’ solicitor Cheryl Clark said her client suffered from anxiety and stress and had been trying to cope with an alcohol problem.

The court was told she had moved from Edinburgh to the Perth area for a fresh start, but was unhappy and overwhelmed by being moved from her friends.

Miss Clark told the court that Brims, who was known as Carmen when she worked as a gangster’s moll in Edinburgh, had gone out for lunch and got drunk on the day in question.

Brims was placed on a community payback order and told to do 100 hours’ unpaid work.