Girl dies watching Tipping Point while mom goes to pub | UK | News

A mum left her dying daughter watching TV quiz show Tipping Point while she went to the pub, an inquest heard.

Sharon Goldie, 49, “refused” to take her seriously ill daughter Robyn, 13, to hospital and left her in front of the TV drinking in a pub. When he returned to their home in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, Robyn was found unresponsive on the sofa, according to an inquest into the fatal accident.

Despite this, Goldie continued to drink out with his friend Jim Duffy until he noticed that Robyn had stopped breathing and rigor mortis had set in – referring to post-mortem muscle stiffness. But at Hamilton Sheriff Court, Goldie claimed he believed Robyn was ‘exaggerating’, claiming: ‘I thought she was getting better and didn’t need to go to hospital.

“I told him only people with heart attacks needed ambulances and I didn’t think it was hospital work. I thought it was a stomach bug and paracetamol and ibuprofen would be what the doctor would give him.”

Doctors later discovered that Robyn had developed peritonitis and then had a perforated duodenal ulcer. Goldie continued: “I knew he was unwell but I didn’t think he needed an ambulance.

“I left him to watch Tipping Point doubled over on the couch, he liked Tipping Point, and I locked the door behind me and left.”

Goldie, from Kilsyth, was jailed for three years and six months in 2020 after admitting willful abuse and neglect between July 2017 and July 2018.

He admitted that he did not provide Robyn with adequate food, clothing or heating, beat her and allowed her to smoke cannabis and drink alcohol.

He also pleaded guilty to exposing himself to unsanitary living conditions such as cat urine and cat faeces, which resulted in him contracting fleas.

The inquest previously heard claims that Goldie told Robyn not to report the alleged rape because it would lead to her being examined by doctors and going to court.

Goldie said Robyn “bragged” she was no longer a virgin after allegedly assaulting a 14-year-old boy in a caravan near Bellshill, Lanarkshire. He said: “He was bragging about it, it wasn’t a complaint but I had to try and calm myself down because my blood was boiling.

“I told him the doctors will examine him, he has a lot to do in court and then the press will come and it will follow him for the rest of his life.”

The Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC, ordered the inquiry after finding that the conditions raised “serious public concern”.

The inquest before Sheriff Linda Nicolson continues.

Subscribe to the Daily Express free health newsletter for the latest health news, advice and symptoms