Man jailed for drug-fuelled attack on four-year-old girl

Sean Lochrie, 33, was handed a prison term of more than six years for assaulting the youngster, leaving her with two broken arms.

Sean Lochrie was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA) (PA Archive)

A man who suffocated and attacked a four-year-old girl in a cocaine-fuelled bout of violence has been jailed.

Sean Lochrie, 33, was jailed for more than six years at the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday after he admitted to what sentencing judge Lord Robert Weir branded a brutal assault on the youngster.

Lochrie, who appeared at the court by video link, had taken cocaine before attacking the girl, who suffered two broken arms and extensive bruising, at a property in Paisley, Renfrewshire, last year.

Lord Weir said in the 12-minute hearing: “Although you have previously offended, nothing in your record bears comparison to the deplorable level of violence represented by this indictment perpetrated in whatever condition you were in against a helpless four-year-old-girl.”

In February, Lochrie admitted assaulting the girl to her severe injury and to the danger of her life by seizing her, throwing her about, striking her on the head and body or inflicting blunt force trauma to those areas by unknown means on October 28 and 29, 2022.

He pleaded guilty to compressing the child’s face and neck with his hands or by some other unknown means, suffocating her and restricting her breathing.

The High Court in Glasgow was told “significant force” would have been needed to inflict such injuries on the child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Prosecutor Lorraine Glancy KC told the court the youngster “refuses to speak about the events of the night she was injured”.

The court heard Lochrie phoned police at around 3.15am on October 29 to report that he had just woken up and a female he did not know was lying on the floor.

Offers were sent to investigate, arriving 10 minutes later, and said Lochrie appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance.

The child was taken to hospital by ambulance, where doctors at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow found she had two broken arms and extensive bruising. Her urine tested positive for cocaine, indicating she had ingested it at the property.

During the sentencing hearing on Thursday, Iain McSporran KC, mitigating, gave an narrative of what he described as an “extremely disturbing and distressing” incident.

He told Lord Weir that Lochrie had admitted to the crime at the earliest opportunity, and said his client had taken cocaine on the evening of the attack.

Mr McSporran said it proved that “illicit drugs are not only illegal but plainly very dangerous”.

He said there was no suggestion the violence was motivated by “any kind of malice”, and told the court: “He must live in the knowledge of what he has done and that’s something he must live with for the rest of his life.”

Passing sentence, Lord Weir told Lochrie he would have received a 10-year sentence had he not admitted his crime.

Due to his guilty plea, he handed Lochrie a prison term of six years and eight months, backdated to October 31.