Poole Man To Be Sentenced

A man from Poole will be sentenced later - after admitting the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend and their 20-month-old daughter.

A court heard that back in May, Roger Weir of Slough Lane, shot 27 year old Gillian Blackmore with a flare gun and attacked her with a meat cleaver at her flat in Eastleigh, Hampshire.

The 45-year-old then fed their toddler heroin from a syringe into her mouth.

Winchester Crown Court heard how Weir, 45, then held the youngster hostage barricaded inside her bedroom where he told police he had a gun and a meat cleaver.

The court was told how Miss Blackmore was found outside the block of flats in Alexander Square, Eastleigh, by her new boyfriend Barry Towler, an off-duty police community support officer.

He then tried to get into the flat to rescue the child but was stopped by police who had gone inside and found the hallway full of smoke - the carpet had caught fire after he'd fired the flare gun.

They could hear a man shouting: ''Don't come in here or I'll shoot the baby.''

He eventually agreed to hand over the child to police -they found a number of bullets on the child's bed, a blood stained meat cleaver and syringes.

He's due to be sentenved at Winchester Crown Court later today.