How is it possible for a child in 21st century England to starve to death?

Hamzah Khan’s remains were still dressed in a babygro when a police officer made the discovery at his house in Bradford.

Hamzah’s mother Amanda Hutton, 43, has gone on trial at Bradford Crown Court accused of allowing him to starve to death in December 2009.

The jury heard that Hutton ordered pizza within hours of her son’s death and continued to claim child benefit for him.

His remains, found 21 months later, were in clothing intended for a baby aged six to nine 
months.

Paul Greaney QC, prosecuting, said Hamzah died aged four-and-a-half on December 15, 2009.

He said the babygro fitted his “stunted” body.

“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?”

He said: “Amanda Hutton failed to provide her child with the nourishment that he needed to survive and, in so failing, she killed him.”

Hutton, who has denied manslaughter by gross negligence, watched the proceedings from the dock dressed in a black top, cardigan and skirt.

Mr Greaney said Hamzah’s body was found after police community support officer Jodie Worsley spoke to Hutton and became concerned about the smell coming from her house.

Eventually, more police arrived and went into the property.

“What they discovered disturbed even hardened officers,” he said.

Mr Greaney said the officers were faced with “squalor”.

“Furthermore, within a cot in the bedroom of Amanda Hutton, a police officer named Richard Dove made a dreadful discovery.

“Within that cot, beneath other items, he found the mummified corpse of a child.”

Hutton was an abuser of alcohol and cannabis but, said Mr Greaney, the jury will have to consider whether Hamzah “became a secondary and less important consideration than those addictions”.

He said the defendant worked as a care assistant in the past and there was evidence that she had undergone first aid training.

Mr Greaney said he expected Hutton’s lawyers to argue that Hamzah’s malnutrition could have arisen through “some naturally occurring condition”.

He said the prosecution case was that Hutton was guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence because she failed to feed him adequately and failed to seek medical assistance.

In police interviews Hutton said she had tried to revive Hamzah but to no effect. The jury heard Hamzah’s father, Aftab Khan, was separated from Hutton and lived elsewhere.

Mr Greaney added: “She described placing Hamzah into his cot, making plain that she had treated his body with dignity, and it is right that we should observe that when Hamzah’s body was found, it was found with a teddy.”

Mr Greaney said the jury will have to consider whether the pizza and the child benefit matters “demonstrate anything about her attitude towards Hamzah”.

Hutton denies manslaughter. The trial continues.