A foster carer who murdered a one-year-old child she was in the process of adopting has finally faced justice after 11 years.
What happened
Katie Tidmarsh was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment at Leicester Crown Court on Thursday for killing Ruby Thompson more than a decade ago, after catastrophic brain damage led to the child’s death in 2012.
The foster carer was in the process of adopting the one-year-old when she aggressively shook her, causing fatal brain damage.
On Friday, the 39-year-old was told by Mr Justice Mark Wall, the sentencing judge, that her victim was a ‘defenceless young child’ and her actions ‘constituted a gross breach of trust’.
He told Tidmarsh she was ‘ill-equipped’ to raise a child due to her mental health difficulties, adding: ‘You also tried to cover up what you had done by delaying medical treatment for Ruby.’
Tidmarsh and her husband were in the process of adopting Ruby when a 999 call was made from the family address in August 2012 saying she had suffered a seizure and was not breathing.
She died two days later. The case took 11 years to come to court.
Thought her past would not catch up with her
Referencing the delay, the judge told Tidmarsh: ‘The evidence is that you were able to get on with your life confident that your past would not catch up with you.
‘This delay has allowed you to carry on with your life while relatively young for 10 years or more when you ought to have been in prison.
Tidmarsh claimed Ruby was injured after her eyes rolled back and she fell on to a thick rug she was sitting on.
But medical experts proved the injury was caused by shaking and a high-energy impact.
The story she sold
Medics treating Ruby spotted two previous fractures to her right shoulder on X-ray scans, as well as a broken arm that she was treated for two weeks before, with Tidmarsh saying the youngster had been knocked over by one of her dogs.
Tidmarsh, of Station Road in Littlethorpe, Leicester, was also charged with two counts of causing grievous bodily harm relating to previous injuries to Ruby.
She was found guilty of one and not the other.
The judge told Tidmarsh: ‘You have always steadfastly maintained that nothing happened to Ruby on the morning of her collapse save that, as she sat on a rug in the living room, her eyes suddenly rolled into the back of her head and she fell backwards from her seated position onto the rug.
‘The experts all agreed that this would not account for the injuries sustained by Ruby.
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‘Your story provided neither an explanation as to why her eyes might have rolled back into her head, nor an explanation for the other severe injuries.
‘I sentence you on the basis that you abused her that morning and have lied to cover up what you did.’
He added: ‘Your victim was a defenceless young child and you, her carer. Your actions in respect of Ruby constituted a gross breach of trust’.
She is now convicted
Tidmarsh’s conviction followed an inquest and lengthy court proceedings in 2017 when a judge ruled the foster carer had inflicted the injuries that resulted in Ruby’s collapse and death.
This prompted a further consultation between the police and the CPS and the instruction of extra medical experts.
Tidmarsh, who was previously arrested in 2012 before facing no further action, was arrested again in 2022 and charged with murder.
She faces life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17 years.
