Bo'ness mum left angered over court claim her five-year-old son had died

One even contacted Pauline Vaux’s sister to offer their condolences thinking he had fallen victim to an asthma attack.

The upsetting series of events was sparked when Pauline’s former partner Grant Murray (32), of 35 Thirlestane, Bo’ness, appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court having failed to complete a community payback order imposed for supplying drugs.

In his defence, his lawyer stated that his young son had died a few weeks earlier after suffering an asthma attack.

The case was reported in last week’s Journal and Gazette leading to the worried calls. The first Pauline (33) heard of it was when her sister got in touch. “Someone told her they were sorry to hear about her nephew,” said the mum, whose five-year-old son Peter does suffer from asthma.

“I just burst into tears when I read the paper – I don’t think I actually believed it until then. I was angry and just felt sick.”

Murray had not responded to attempts to contact him as the newspaper went to press.

Pauline said she and Murray split up when she was pregnant and he had not had much contact with Peter since.

Grant Murray appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court on Thursday, March 17 because he had previously not been doing the unpaid work.

During his court appearance, solicitor Simon Hutchison told Sheriff Craig Caldwell Murray’s “six-year-old son” had suffered a severe asthma attack and died a few weeks ago and that was the reason he had not been keeping up with his order.

Sheriff Caldwell said he understood the “predicament” Murray found himself in and continued his case for six weeks to allow him to make progress on his 125 hours of unpaid work.