Minderwaskeptawake by concerns about child

A CHILDMINDER has told a court she alerted a care watchdog as she feared “somebody was hurting” a toddler two women are accused of murdering.

Heather Farmer, 48, broke down in tears as she said she was so worried about Liam Fee that she couldn’t sleep.

Ms Farmer said she started looking after the youngster at her home in Fife when he was 11 months old, in July 2012, and kept a work diary that showed he was walking, talking, interacting with other children, and playing with toys.

She said he initially seemed a “happy and content” youngster but this changed and she became concerned about the amount of bruises he had, noting he was “withdrawn”.

She told the High Court in Livingston: “After Christmas I noticed a big change in Liam. He was very quiet. He didn’t want to interact with other children. He seemed sad.”

The childminder noted bruises to his legs and back on different occasions in 2012, and contacted the Scottish Childminding Association (SCA) in January 2013 after he turned up with scratches and bruises to his face, days after arriving with a bruised forehead and legs, which his mother Rachel Trelfa, also known as Rachel Fee, told her was from falling out of his cot.

The court heard a note of the phone conversation she had with the Care Inspectorate, which the SCA had advised her to call.

It said: “Heather stated that she had observed a number of injuries over a period of time. She said that she was not sleeping because she was worried.”

Trelfa, 31, and her civil partner Nyomi Fee, 28, deny murdering two-year-old Liam at a house in Fife on March 22, 2014, and falsely blaming his death on another young boy.

The charge alleges the couple assaulted Liam on various occasions between March 15 and March 22, 2014.

Trelfa and Fee also deny a catalogue of charges of wilfully illtreating and neglecting two other young boys, and of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

The trial continues.