A drug addict abandoned a terrified boy in a desolate forest and then tried to cover her tracks by claiming the boy was missing.
Ashley McGovern took the nine-year-old boy to a dark field near her then home in East Lothian, and abandoned the boy to his fate.
After the 31-year-old man lied that the boy had gone missing while collecting his bike, a major search operation was launched involving 80 police officers, the force’s helicopter and mountain and rescue teams. coastguard.
He was only discovered 24 hours later, without shoes or socks, when a dog walker heard him crying.
The victim was severely affected by her ordeal, including suffering brain injuries.
Evidence of cocaine and alcohol in his system suggested that he had been exposed to those substances before being taken into the woods.
Glasgow High Court heard he had to spend more than four months in hospital undergoing extensive rehabilitation and is likely to have permanent weakness in his right side.
Ashley McGovern abandoned a terrified child in a desolate forest and then tried to cover her tracks by claiming the child was missing. He is pictured here at Glasgow High Court where he pleaded guilty to child abuse yesterday.
The victim was severely affected by her ordeal, including suffering brain injuries. The court heard McGovern had used cocaine heavily. Pictured: Glasgow High Court
Ashley McGovern took the nine-year-old girl to the dark field near her then home in East Lothian.
The callous drug addict abandoned the terrified young man to his fate in the dark forest.
McGovern pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of willfully neglecting a child, causing serious injury, permanent disability and danger to life.
He had initially faced an attempted murder charge that included allegations that he had been repeatedly struck in the neck and body with a knife.
Prosecutor Alan Cameron, KC, said the sun had set when the boy was abandoned on September 9, 2022. He added: “The boy was known to be afraid of the dark.”
McGovern later told his father that the young man was “missing” and a “major search operation” was launched.
The court heard she had used cocaine heavily.
John Scullion, KC, defending, said: ‘There have been problems in his life, particularly his drug misuse. “He has taken steps to address that problem.”
He asked that McGovern, lately of Haddington, East Lothian, be released on bail ahead of sentencing, but Lord Young remanded her in custody ahead of sentencing on December 19.