A WOMAN who systematically poisoned a girl with so much salt that she suffered a stroke at the age of eight was jailed yesterday for four years.

Susan Hamilton, 39, from Edinburgh, wept as she was sentenced at Glasgow High Court for assault to the endangerment of life. Her victim is now brain damaged.

The girl, now 11, almost died after repeatedly being given large doses of salt, taken directly into her stomach through her feeding tube.

During a three-week trial, the High Court in Edinburgh was told that the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was frequently admitted to hospital over four years, suffering from high levels of sodium in her blood. She suffered a stroke in March 2000 after a particularly strong dose left her unconscious.

A jury found Hamilton guilty of the assault on June 6. She had been cleared earlier of attempted murder. Jailing her yesterday, Lord Brodie said that he had taken into account that she had no criminal record, came from a respectable background and had a successful marriage, but he had no alternative but to jail her.

As the verdict was read out, Hamilton’s relatives, who have always maintained her innocence, called “rubbish” from the public gallery. Her sister and husband, Neil, refused to comment as they left court.

During the trial, the jury heard that the girl was fed using a tube through her nostril and down her throat until May 1995, when a feeding tube was put into her stomach.

Detectives discovered that she had been admitted to hospital 17 times, but was seen by several different consultants. She also attended her GP’s surgery on dozens of occasions.

When they arrested Hamilton, they believed she might have been suffering from Münchausen’s syndrome by proxy, which causes people to harm others to gain attention.

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