The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Former soldier killed Fife baby girl
COURT: Gordon McKay, 38, admitted shaking girlfriend’s daughter
A former soldier has been warned jail is “inevitable” after he admitted killing a fivemonth-old baby girl in Buckhaven.
Gordon McKay shook Hayley Davidson so hard in the attack on Valentine’s Day 2016 that she suffered bleeding around the brain.
Doctors diagnosed a “non-survivable head injury” and her life support machine was turned off three days later.
McKay had been charged with murdering the daughter of his girlfriend, Catherine Davidson, but pled guilty to the lesser charge of culpable homicide at the High Court in Livingston.
During yesterday’s hearing it emerged that Fife Council had been alerted when Hayley was taken to hospital with a fractured arm three months before her death but did not intervene, despite McKay admitting responsibility for the “accident” which caused it.
A former soldier has admitted killing his girlfriend’s five-month-old daughter by repeatedly shaking the baby until her brain bled.
Gordon McKay, 38, was originally charged with murdering little Hayley Davidson while looking after her at his home in Buckhaven, Fife, on Valentine’s Day 2016.
He pled guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide at the High Court in Livingston yesterday and has been warned he faces an “inevitable” prison sentence when he returns to the High Court in Edinburgh on May 10.
Adjourning the case for background reports, judge Lord Uist continued McKay’s bail meantime to allow him to spend time with his two sons.
The court heard Hayley’s mother Catherine Davidson lived a few doors away from McKay on West High Street, Buckhaven, and after splitting from Hayley’s father had developed an “obsessive” relationship with the accused.
Forensic tests showed the pair had smoked cannabis together, and Hayley was in the same room, the night before the youngster was fatally injured.
Advocate depute Jane Farquharson, prosecuting, said the fatal attack happened after Mrs Davidson left Hayley alone with McKay for an hour on the morning of February 14 2016 to get her two older daughters ready for a day out with her grandmother.
At 11.19am, Mrs Davidson got a text message from McKay that read: “Come quick!” and she ran to his house with her two daughters.
Miss Farquharson said: “Mrs Davidson walked into the living room where she found McKay leaning over Hayley, administering CPR.
“She describes screaming at her partner: ‘What happened?’ and he replied: ‘Phone an ambulance, she’s not breathing.’”
Paramedics who arrived within seven minutes found Mrs Davidson in a distressed state and McKay giving CPR to Hay ley, who was “pale, floppy and unresponsive”.
McKay said he left Hayley alone to run a bath and found her unresponsive when he returned to check on her.
“Mr McKay then described picking Hayley up and giving her a shake,” said Miss Farquharson.
When questioned at the hospital he told police he shook the baby three or four times by holding her shoulders.
Scans indicated a bleed around Hayley’s brain consistent with a significant head trauma, and in particular a shaking type injury.
Medical experts diagnosed a “nonsurvivable” head injury and, on February 17, after brain stem tests confirmed no activity, care was withdrawn and Hayley died.
Miss Farquharson said the baby’s mother “seemed more concerned for the welfare of, and attentive to, Mr McKay” than her critically-injured daughter.
“In a strongly worded police statement, a family liaison officer describes interrupting ‘intimate relations’ within the family room when she went through to advise Mrs Davidson that Hayley’s life support machine was about to be switched off,” she said.
“At the time of Hayley’s death Mrs Davidson held her daughter in her arms. After a few minutes she indicated she needed to be with Mr McKay.”
Solicitor advocate John Scott, defending, said McKay – who has two sons of his own living with his former partner in Inverness – was an ex-soldier who had served four years in the Army, including duty in the Middle East. He said the defence was obtaining a psychiatric report to show whether he suffered PTSD due to his military service.
Deferring sentence, Lord Uist told McKay: “You have pled guilty to the grave crime of causing the death of a baby by shaking her.
“As Mr Scott has recognised on your behalf, this is bound to result in a custodial sentence.”
McKay declined to comment as he left court with members of his family and was ushered into a waiting car by family members.