The trial of Courtney Gartshore, centred on the death of her three-month-old daughter, Dahlia-Rose, at the family home in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, in September 2023.
Prosecutors alleged that Gartshore, then aged 28, had been drinking before deliberately directing the heat from a hairdryer onto the infant, causing severe burns over approximately 18 per cent of the baby's body. The injuries were described as so unusual that experienced medical professionals stated they had never encountered a comparable case. Following Dahlia-Rose's death, Gartshore initially told relatives and friends that her daughter had died from 'Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)', and a recording of her 999 call was played to the jury in which she reported that the baby had turned "purple" while sleeping. After hearing several weeks of medical and forensic evidence, the High Court in Aberdeen found Gartshore guilty of 'culpable homicide'.
A key issue at trial was the medical cause of Dahlia-Rose's death. The prosecution relied on specialist medical experts who concluded that the burns had been inflicted while the infant was still alive and that the thermal injuries caused by the hairdryer were responsible for her death. The defence challenged that conclusion by calling **Mr Timothy Burge** as its sole expert witness.
Mr Timothy Burge is a highly experienced Consultant Burns and Plastic Surgeon*specialising in the assessment and treatment of burn injuries, reconstructive surgery, trauma, and medico-legal reporting. He holds the qualifications **MB ChB, MSc, DMCC, FRCS, and FRCS (Plast), making him one of the United Kingdom's leading specialists in burns and plastic surgery. He has practised as a consultant since 1996 and has served as a Consultant Burns and Plastic Surgeon at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.. Earlier in his career, he also held consultant appointments within the Royal Army Medical Corps, providing him with extensive experience in the management of complex traumatic injuries.
Alongside his clinical work, Mr Burge has developed an established reputation as an expert witness. For more than two decades, he has prepared hundreds of medico-legal reports each year for civil, criminal, family, and child protection proceedings. He has given expert evidence in numerous High Court and Crown Court cases, including homicide prosecutions, and has lectured on forensic and medico-legal issues at the University of the West of England. His professional memberships include the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons, the British Burns Association, the International Society for Burn Injuries, and the Expert Witness Institute.
During the Gartshore trial, Mr Burge accepted that the infant had sustained severe burn injuries but questioned whether those injuries were the actual cause of death. Giving evidence for the defence, he expressed the opinion that the child was not killed by the heat injuries themselves. Instead, he suggested that another medical explanation remained possible and told the jury: It could have been that she was already dead. His evidence therefore challenged the prosecution's assertion that the burns inflicted by the hairdryer were the direct cause of Dahlia-Rose's death.
The prosecution relied upon other specialist medical experts who concluded that the burns had been inflicted while the baby was still alive and that the thermal injuries were sufficiently severe to have caused her death. After considering all of the medical evidence, the jury preferred the prosecution's expert testimony and found Courtney Gartshore guilty of culpable homicide.
Although the defence's medical evidence was ultimately rejected, Mr Burge's role illustrates the importance of independent expert testimony within the criminal justice system. His duty was not to advocate for either party but to provide an objective opinion based upon his specialist expertise in burns medicine. The case also demonstrates how courts routinely hear competing expert opinions, leaving it to the jury to assess the credibility, reliability, and weight of the medical evidence before reaching its verdict.
Other names of expert witnesses cannot be verified at this point.
The prosecution's case was reported as relying on multiple medical experts, including specialists in:
Forensic pathology (to determine the medical cause of death and whether the burns were inflicted before death). Paediatric medicine (to assess the infant's injuries and exclude natural causes). Burns and thermal injury medicine (to explain the severity, mechanism, and timing of the burns).
By Edward Price
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_pathology
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