Baby's face turned blue as thug dangled him above ground

Callous George Cochrane (27) actually lifted the baby while he was in his buggy and the combined weight of the child and the carrier pressing on his windpipe began to choke the baby, who turned blue in the face before his attacker put him down.

Grangemouth man Cochrane was annoyed at the baby’s crying and swore at him before carrying out his violent act.

Appearing at Stirling Sheriff Court today, Cochrane previously pled guilty to assaulting the child and behaving in a threatening manner between December 2015 and March 28 last year.

Matthew Kerr, procurator fiscal depute, said: “The accused strapped the baby in his pushchair and, when he continued to cry, took hold of the hood of the top the baby was wearing, and lifted him by it.

“Both the child and the pushchair were lifted from the floor. Two witnesses observed the baby’s face go purple and then blue, and saw he was struggling to breathe as the front of his clothing was tightening to the front of his neck.”

Mr Kerr said one of the witnesses “challenged” Cochrane, and he put the thug put the baby back on the seat of the pushchair and quickly left.

The incident happened at an address house in Grangemouth.

Witnesses were already concerned after a previous incident a few weeks earlier, when Cochrane had picked the baby up from the floor by his jacket and shook him backwards and forwards violently because he was crying.

Doctors found brown bruises on both sides of the child’s forehead, as well as a mark on his thigh.

Mr Kerr said: “They found the injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma and said a child of his age would not have been able to bruise himself so badly by striking his head on the side of his cot.”

Mr Kerr said that on both occasions the little boy had been attacked, he had been crying because he was tired.

Cochrane was forced to represent himself in court after his solicitor withdrew from acting for him.

Sheriff William Gilchrist remanded him in custody until April 19 for pre-sentencing reports, and warned Cochrane: “A custodial sentence is almost inevitable.”