Mum ‘drank vodka as neglected son wasted away’

Prosecutor Paul Greaney QC made the comments in his final address to the jury in the trial of Amanda Hutton, who is accused of the manslaughter of her son, Hamzah Khan.

Hamzah’s body was found in Hutton’s bedroom at her Bradford home almost two years after he died.

Bradford Crown Court has heard how his remains were mummified and insect infested when police discovered them in September 2011.

Today, Mr Greaney told the jury Hamzah starved to death as Hutton breached the fundamental duty of care a parent has for a child.

He said: “As the child wasted away, she did nothing but sit in her bedroom and drink vodka.”

Mr Greaney said the cause of Hamzah’s death was “blindingly obvious”.

He said: “It was malnourishment and she (Hutton) caused it.”

The prosecutor said Hutton had no answer to the question of why she did not get medical help for her son.

He said this was “unforgiveable”.

Mr Greaney said: “Can there be a more fundamental duty to a child than to feed it?”

Mr Greaney told the jury: “Drink was more important to her than her child - a terrible thing to say about a mother, but it’s the truth.”

Hutton sat in the dock listening to the prosecutor’s speech, dressed in black and shaking her head through much of what was said.

She denies manslaughter.

The jury has been told she has admitted child neglect and preventing the burial of a corpse.

Her son, Tariq Khan, 24, has also admitted the latter charge.

In his closing speech, Stephen Meadowcroft QC, defending, began by describing the extensive media coverage the case has attracted.

He said: “Go into any bar, any club, and talk to anyone and ask them if they know about this case.

“They all do.

“It’s had tremendous media coverage.

“If you want to know what they say, you don’t have to ask them, I can tell you.

“They will have no doubt she is guilty and the trial is a waste of time.”

But the barrister told the jury of eight men and four women that they are in a special position because they have heard all the evidence.

He told them: “’This evil woman starved a small child to death in appalling squalor’,” he said. “That’s the feel. But when you look a the evidence, is that true?”

Mr Meadowcroft then took the jury through a series instances when professionals, family members and even gas engineers went into Hutton’s home before Hamzah died.

He said that in each case no-one saw anything that concerned them.

Mr Meadowcroft closed his speech by saying: “This has been a terrible case.

“Amanda Hutton would not get any sympathy from anybody in the outside world, would she - not one person?

“They would say ‘from all we’ve read, we think it’s terrible, she’s guilty, no penalty would be enough for her’.

“But they’ve not listened to the evidence. They’ve not got the duty that you have to make this decision.”

He said: “If the truth is that she is not responsible for the death, for her now to be convicted of manslaughter after everything that she’s been through, would be a terrible injustice, would it not?”.