Boston - The detective who claimed British au pair Ms Louise Woodward told him she dropped a baby on the floor while she was frustrated and angry admitted in court yesterday he had not mentioned the fact in an initial report. Det Sgt William Byrne also admitted that he had referred to 19-year-old Ms Woodward as "maybe a borderline hero" who may have injured the baby by trying to save his life.
Det Sgt Byrne told Ms Woodward's murder trial in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that he only changed his mind after speaking to doctors at Boston's children's hospital, where nine-month-old Matthew died five days after admission.
The officer told the Middlesex Superior Court, where Ms Woodward denies first-degree murder, that she had told him she had tossed the baby on a bed and dropped him on a towel on the bathroom floor. He said she also told him that she had shaken the child to revive him after finding him in his cot with his eyes rolling and his breathing laboured.