Former soldier jailed for shaking baby to death in his Fife home

An ex-soldier who shook his girlfriend's baby to death at a house in Fife is being jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

Hayley Davidson was just five months old when she was killed by Gordon McKay, 38, in Buckhaven in February 2016.

He was originally charged with murder but admitted the lesser charge of culpable homocide.

McKay initially told his partner, Catherine Davidson, that Hayley wriggled off a beanbag when he left her alone.

But he later admitted to police he had shaken her 'three or four times', resulting in her head 'whipping backwards and forwards'.

Hayley was taken off life support three days after the incident.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Uist told McKay that he had no other option but to send him to prison.

Passing sentence, the judge said: "Hayley's short life was brought to an end by a criminal act on your part.

"The taking of a baby's life by an assault involving repeated shaking even where it does not amount to the crime of murder is an extremely grave crime which must attract a lengthy sentence of imprisonment."

McKay was originally charged with murder but last month he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide.