Woman who abandoned nine-year-old boy in woods overnight avoids jail

Before taking him to the woods, Ashley McGovern also exposed the boy to drugs and alcohol

Brock Wood in Dunbar (Google Maps)

A woman abandoned a nine-year-old boy in woodland and claimed he had gone missing.

Ashley McGovern, 31, drove the boy to Brock Wood, near Dunbar in East Lothian, on the evening of September 9, 2022.

He was left overnight without suitable clothing or shelter and with no food or water, and suffered a number of injuries as a result of what a judge said was a “terrifying ordeal”.

After abandoning the boy, McGovern repeatedly lied to police and members of the public about where she had been on September 9, and when she had last seen him.

Before taking him to the woods, McGovern had also exposed him to drugs and alcohol.

At the High Court in Glasgow in November, McGovern pleaded guilty to charges of wilful ill-treatment and neglect of a child likely to cause unnecessary suffering and harm.

She also admitted one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

At the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday, the 31-year-old was sentenced to a three-year community payback order, ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work, and required to undergo regular “progress reviews”.

In passing her sentence, judge Lord Young said: “These are extremely serious offences and because of the significant harm caused to the child a custodial sentence would be the norm.”

He told her she had exposed the child to drugs and alcohol, and had “left that child overnight in a wooded area with inadequate clothing or shelter”.

The judge added: “That must have been a terrifying ordeal for the child.”

He told her he had remanded her in custody following her guilty plea last month in the expectation he would be handing down a prison sentence.

However he said in light of information provided since then, he was “persuaded” there were “special” circumstances in her case that “justify a non-custodial sentence as a direct alternative to custody”.

Ashley McGovern was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday (PA) (PA Archive)

Lord Young said McGovern had suffered from poor mental health for a number of years, and this “worsened” during the Covid pandemic, leading her to turn to drugs.

He also said she had demonstrated “genuine remorse” for her actions, and that since the offence she had “weaned” herself off drugs, which he said was “greatly to your credit”.

Lord Young added: “You have been unable to explain why you left the child overnight in the woods,” but said it was “probably” the result of the state her life was in due to her drug addiction.

He warned her: “If you breach any of part of this order, you may be back before me and sentenced for these offences as if no order had been made, and that could potentially include being sent to prison.”

McGovern, who attended the hearing remotely from Stirling prison dressed in a pink T-shirt, wept openly as the sentence was read out.

Earlier, her lawyer John Scullion KC said it was a “sad and difficult case where the accused undoubtedly requires to be punished”.

However he said his client was a “vulnerable individual” with a history of mental health issues, and that since the pandemic she had struggled with a drug addiction that had “ruined the positive life she had previously built”.

He also cited a report from one of the specialists who interviewed McGovern while she was being held on remand, saying: “The accused recalls a sense of panic and describing something flipped in her mind that day.

“She described the decisions she made thereafter as being out of character.”