A nursery worker who held a child upside down until blood vessels around their eye burst was today jailed.
Caroline Bell, 44, was locked up for eight months at Dundee Sheriff Court after being found guilty of two charges of assault.
She was found guilty after trial of assaulting two children at Busy Bee nursery in Cupar, Fife, between 2013 and 2014.
Bell, of Lorraine Drive, Cupar, had worked at the nursery — now called Little Beehives — for around five years.
A trial heard how during that time she had held a child upside down and the child became so upset that blood vessels around the child’s eye burst.
A witness said Bell had “joked” about the incident and recited events “as if she was talking about what she had for tea”.
The trial also heard of another incident when Bell picked another child off a climbing frame by their ankles and carried them across a room upside down before “dumping” on the ground.
The Crown also initially charged Bell with ill-treatment, which she denied. The charge was dropped as the trial started.
Bell wept in the dock as solicitor Kevin Hampton, defending, told the court Bell would lose her job if she sentenced to imprisonment.
Sheriff Simon Collins said: “These are dreadful offences, not just because of the harm but also because of the abuse of your position of trust.
“There was a compelling case against you involving multiple witnesses.
“The nature of the circumstances are so serious that there is not alternative to a custodial sentence.”
Sheriff Collins also banned Bell from working with children in the future.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.