Ten-month-old child swallows ecstasy pill

A boy aged 10 months was being treated in hospital last night after swallowing an ecstasy tablet.

The child was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary by ambulance after his mother raised the alarm in the early hours of Sunday morning when her son fell ill.

The baby is understood to have taken the tablet at a house in Banff, a former fishing village on the north-east coast of Scotland. His mother took him to the police station.

Two officers escorted the child to the nearby Chalmers Hospital and he was taken 40 miles by ambulance to the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital.

Potentially fatal, the class A drug, which has gained popularity in the past decade among clubbers, is a stimulant and a hallucinogen. The drug leads to a sharp increase in body temperature, which, in some cases, can lead to muscle breakdown, kidney and heart failure and death.

Last night, a spokesman for Aberdeen Royal Infirmary described the boy's state as "satisfactory" and "comfortable" and said that his condition was not believed to be life-threatening.

A spokesman for Grampian Police said that a 21-year-old man had been questioned about the incident and he would be reported to the Procurator Fiscal.

"We are investigating an incident which occurred at a house in Banff whereby a baby boy swallowed what is believed to be an ecstasy tablet," the spokesman said. "A man has been questioned but he is not under arrest and has not been detained in custody."

The man is expected to appear at Aberdeen Sheriff Court next week.

In October last year, Iris Law, the two-year-old daughter of the actors Jude Law and Sadie Frost, was treated after swallowing part of an ecstasy tablet at a party. The child had her stomach pumped and her brain scanned.