Mummified Baby

Amanda Hutton 'starved 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. Hamzah Khan was still dressed in baby clothes when police discovered the corpse as even though Hamzah was four years old at the time of death the malnutrition that caused his death meant that he still fitted into clothes aged 6-9 months.

The court case against the mother, Ms Hutton, is manslaughter by two accounts of gross negligence after having failed to feed her son and failing to seek medical advice.

The most shocking aspect of this case comes with the death of the child, Ms Hutton claims when she returned from the supermarket one day Hamzah was near to death, she said she sought to revive him but to no effect, she then placed the child in his cot, but then instead of calling for assistance e.g calling 999 she made calls to a pizza delivery and placed an order. After the death of Hamzah she then continued to claim benefits for him up until the discovery.

If you are shocked by this story here's two more facts:
Ms Hutton was an abuser of alcohol and cannabis and the father of the child was separated from Ms Hutton and now lived elsewhere.

It begs the questions about drug and alcohol abuse in the UK, and the rising cases of separation between parents; how can a father not have contact with his child in all that time; do we require tighter restrictions on drug and alcohol laws? Was the factor in her not disclosing the death connected with the increase rise in fraudulent claims, and was this money funding her addiction or was she living on the poverty line?