Dad jailed after leaving baby daughter to die in her cot while he played video games

A dad who left his 19-month-old daughter alone and without food for 21 hours has been jailed for more than a year.

Michael Conroy, 27, admitted neglecting Kiera at the end of 2017 when he and Kiera’s mum, Kirsty Boyle, left the little girl alone in a room for almost an entire day before she died.

Boyle, 24, previously said the couple had a ‘bad habit’ of pulling an all-nighter where they would stay up and watch TV or play video games all night.

They did just that on December 19, 2017, when they watched a box set and played games on their phones until 6.30am the next morning.

They slept through most of the next day – only waking up at 3pm on December 20.

But by the time Conroy finally went to his daughter – at around 5pm – she was ‘very white’ with sick around her mouth.

The ‘distressed couple’, from Coatbridge in Lanarkshire, Scotland, tried to perform CPR and call an ambulance, but the little girl was already dead.

Kiera was only fed four chicken nuggets and spaghetti hoops before she was left without food or milk for 21 hours, an investigation has since revealed.

The baby was also living in a ‘filthy flat’ filled with ‘suffocation hazards’ and dirty nappies, Airdrie Sheriff Court heard.

Medics said they were worried about Kiera cutting herself on the many cans that were left scattered all over the unheated home.

Conroy admitted willfully causing or procuring his daughter to be ill-treated, neglecting and exposing in a manner likely to cause her unnecessary suffering or injury to health.

Boyle was originally charged with the same crime but she pleaded not guilty and prosecutors accepted her denial.

Conroy’s defence lawyer said his client would have to live with the tragedy for the rest of his life and asked the court to spare him jail.

The lawyer said: ‘Clearly this is a difficult and harrowing matter and the situation with the young child losing her life is nothing short of tragic.

‘Michael Conroy and his partner are required to live with that loss and he will now carry a conviction and he accepts his care of Kiera fell quite significantly short of what you would expect.

‘This will weigh heavily on Mr Conroy for the rest of his life and no matter what happens to him in court, nothing will impact him as much as what has already happened.

‘He is prepared to accept any disposal the court deems appropriate but I would ask that the court, taking in the whole circumstances of the case, takes a step back from custody.’

But Sheriff Fergus Thomson put Conroy behind bars for 14 months, saying he had come to this decision because Conroy had already breached a community payback order.

The Sheriff told Conroy: ‘This is a tragic situation for all involved and I have listened carefully to what has been said on your behalf.

‘With sadness, I have concluded that no method of disposal other than custody is appropriate.’

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