Amanda Hutton denies starving four-year-old son to death

The mummified body of a four-year-old boy was found in a cot in his mother's  bedroom almost two years after he starved to death, a jury has heard.

Hamzah Khan was still dressed in a babygrow when police made the "dreadful discovery" at his house in Bradford in September 2011, the court was told.

The boy's mother, Amanda Hutton, 43, denies manslaughter and has gone on trial at Bradford Crown Court.

The court heard conditions in the house "disturbed even hardened officers".

'Starved to death'

Opening the case for the prosecution, Paul Greaney QC told the jury Hamzah died on 15 December 2009 when he was four-and-a-half years old.

But the barrister said the boy's remains were found 21 months later in clothing intended for a baby aged six to nine months.

These clothes still fitted him because his growth had been stunted, Mr Greaney said.

"It had been stunted because he was malnourished over a lengthy period and that state of affairs resulted in his death. In short, he starved to death.

"How had a child starved to death in 21st Century England?"

Ms Hutton had failed to provide her son with the nourishment he needed to survive and, by failing to do so, she had killed him, said Mr Greaney.

'Conditions of squalor'

Eventually, more police arrived and went into the property and were faced with "conditions of squalor".He added the "dreadful discovery" of Hamzah's body was made after a police community support officer spoke to Ms Hutton and became concerned.

"What they discovered disturbed even hardened officers," said Mr Greaney.

Ms Hutton was an abuser of alcohol and cannabis, the court was told.

The jury would have to consider whether Hamzah was "a secondary and less important consideration than those addictions", Mr Greaney said.

Gross negligence

Ms Hutton had worked as a care assistant in the past and there was evidence she had undergone some first aid training, Mr Greaney said.

He told the jury he expected Ms Hutton's defence lawyers to claim that her son's malnutrition could have arisen through "some naturally occurring condition".

However, he said the prosecution would argue that she was guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence on two counts after having failed to feed her son adequately and failing to seek medical help for him.

The jury heard Hamzah's father, Aftab Khan, was separated from Ms Hutton and lived elsewhere.

Mr Greaney said there was evidence Mr Khan was violent towards the defendant.

Teddy bear

In police interviews, Ms Hutton said Hamzah had become particularly unwell on 14 December 2009, the jury was told.

She said the next day she went to a supermarket to consult a pharmacist but got a phone call to come home.

"She explained when she returned Hamzah was near to death. She sought to revive him but to no effect," said Mr Greaney.

"She described placing Hamzah into his cot, making plain she had treated his body with dignity."

The child's body was found with a teddy bear, said Mr Greaney.

Mr Greaney said Ms Hutton told police things deteriorated after her son's death and she began to drink a bottle of vodka a day.