Young man who dangled baby from 12th floor window has jail term cut

Court: Keltie successfully appealed his sentence on Tuesday.© STV

A young man who dangled a baby from a 12th floor window had his jail sentence cut by appeal judges.

David Keltie threatened to throw the 13-month-old boy out of the window if the door of the flat was battered by police who had turned up with a warrant for him.

Keltie, who was aged 19 at the time, was originally sentence to four and a half years detention following the offence, but judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh reduced his custodial term to three years on Tuesday.

They also imposed a further one-year supervised release order on Keltie who is now aged 20.

Lady Paton, sitting with Lord Clarke and Lord MacLean, said it had been emphasised to them that he needed supervision in the community on his release. Keltie was originally found guilty of wilfully ill-treating the child and committing a breach of the peace on June 20 last year following a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

He appealed against conviction claiming that Sheriff Daniel Convery had erred in his directions to the jury but the appeal judges rejected the challenge.

Keltie also maintained that the sentence given to him was excessive. His defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson said he was a young man with "a number of issues".

Police had arrived at the flat in Ruby Street, in Glasgow’s Bridgeton, with a warrant for Keltie but were met with threats. Keltie and his girlfriend had been left looking after the child.

Further officers, including a firearms unit, were also called out. Keltie's trial heard that officers who took up observations on the flats saw him hold the infant out the window.

One constable said he had serious concerns that he was going to have a death on his hands.

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