A former escort girl left a toddler surrounded by razor blades, drugs and alcohol as she fell into a drunken sleep.

Nicola Brims was so drunk that passers-by who saw her staggering around with the child phoned the police because they were concerned for his safety in a Perth and Kinloss village.

When police arrived at her address at Bridge of Earn Road, Dunning, they found the door lying open and Brims sleeping soundly, completely unaware of the danger she left the young boy in.

The three-year-old had been left to watch the television within easy reach of open razor blades, prescription medication and open alcohol bottles.

At Perth Sheriff Court on Wednesday, sheriff Lindsay Foulis said a "far more robust" attitude was needed for child neglect cases, after the tragic cases of Declan Hainey and Brandon Muir.

He said: "There have been far too many instances in the past few years of children's lives being lost, in part because of neglect. There is an element of that here.

"There has to be a far more punitive approach. If there is not there will be more instances like the child in Paisley [Declan Hainey] and the one in Dundee [Brandon Muir]."

The court heard that the child could easily have walked out of the house and onto the road while Brims was drunk.

Brims, known as Carmen when she associated with gangland figures in Edinburgh, admitted being unfit to supervise a child because she was heavily under the influence of alcohol on March 22 last year.

Her solicitor, Cheryl Clark, said her client suffered from anxiety and stress and had been trying to cope with an alcohol problem for a number of years.

The court as told she had moved from Edinburgh to the Perth area for a fresh start, but was unhappy and overwhelmed by being moved from her friends.

Sheriff Foulis put her on a community payback order and told to complete 100 hours unpaid work.