A BABY allegedly killed with a hairdryer looked like she had been roasted in a fire, a trial was told.
Jurors were told little Dahlia-Rose Gartshore suffered severe burns across the right hand side of her upper body that could have been fatal.
Her mum Courtney Gartshore, 28, is accused of subjecting her to “sustained” heat of up to 117 degrees from a Tresemme dryer.
Forensic pathologist Alan Farnworth, 40, carried out the post-mortem on the tragic tot who was just 13 weeks old when she died.
At the High Court in Aberdeen, he said: “When we first saw this injury we were thinking one potential explanation could be that it was a fire-related injury.
“A flame or hot embers or having been in a fire.”
But the expert revealed he quickly ruled out the youngster being exposed to a blaze.
He said: “The overall picture of this injury – the absence of singing of the head hair. The absence of soot on the skin or the airways and the absence of charring on the skin.
“This would suggest the injury has not been caused by a flaming heat source.”
In his evidence, Mr Farnworth said he was informed that cops had found a hairdryer in the room where Dahlia-Rose died in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.
He told jurors that the device could have caused the injuries to the baby.
But he ruled out a suggestion the youngster was only briefly exposed to the extreme heat.
He said: “That doesn’t fit the picture.
“Because of the depth and the severity there is nothing that can explain it being a very momentary exposure. It would take a degree of time.”
Mr Farnworth was unable to say whether the baby was burned when she was still alive so was unable to specifically say that’s what killed her.
But he told the court he did not find any evidence of disease or illness.
He said: “The injury is of a severity that it could be considered fatal should the baby have been alive at the time.”
Gartshore, from Aberdeen, sobbed throughout the expert’s evidence.
Earlier she was criticised by judge Simon Collins after she got “distressed” and forced him to call a 15 minute break.
He told her: “There is a lot of this material to go through. She has to listen to it.”
The fourth day of the trial was told that Dahlia-Rose’s DNA was found on the end of the hairdryer recovered by cops from her mum’s bedroom.
Scientist Allison Marvin carried out tests on an identical device and found it to have a maximum heat of 117 degrees.
She discovered that at the highest setting it automatically cut out after more than 13 minutes as it was too hot.
But on the medium setting it continued to blast hot air for five hours and didn’t switch itself off.
Gartshore is accused of killing her daughter by subjecting her to “sustained” heat from a hairdryer in September 2023 while on drink and drugs.
Prosecutors claim she also neglected the youngster and another child and lived in unsanitary conditions.
Gartshore denies the charges. The trial continues.