Nursery owner Lesley Bothwell pleads not guilty to assault

THE owner of a children's nursery in Edinburgh is to stand trial on a charge of assaulting a four-year-old boy while he was in her care.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court. File picture: Ian Georgeson

Lesley Bothwell, from Letham in Fife, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.

Solicitor Advocate David Allan, defending, pleaded not guilty on her behalf and trial was set for next month.

It is alleged that Ms Bothwell, 55, assaulted the four-year old on July 2 last year in the Barnton Nursery, Queensferry Road, by repeatedly seizing him by the body, dragging him from under a table, forcing him onto a chair and restraining him there.