A foster carer has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17 years after murdering a one-year-old child she was in the process of adopting.
Katie Tidmarsh was found guilty at Leicester Crown Court on Thursday of killing Ruby Thompson more than a decade ago after catastrophic brain damage led to her death in 2012.
On Friday, the 39-year-old was told by sentencing judge Mr Justice Mark Wall that her victim was a “defenceless young child” and her actions “constituted a gross breach of trust”.
The judge told Tidmarsh she was “ill-equipped” to raise a child due to her mental health difficulties, adding: “You also tried to cover up what you had done by delaying medical treatment for Ruby.”
Tidmarsh and her husband were in the process of adopting Ruby when a 999 call was made from the family address in August 2012 saying she had suffered a seizure and was not breathing. She died two days later.
The case took 11 years to come to court.