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Hamzah Khan, still dressed in a tiny babygro made for children four years younger than him and clutching a teddy bear, was found buried under other items in a discovery which “disturbed even hardened” police officers.
He had been starved to death, it is alleged, and was so malnourished he fitted into clothing designed for babies aged between six and nine months.
Hamzah’s mother Amanda Hutton, 43, a former care assistant, denies manslaughter.
Four-year-old Hamzah Khan and Hamzah's mother Amanda Hutton, who is facing manslaughter charges at Bradford Crown Court
Photo: Andrew McCaren/Ross Parry Agency
Within hours of his death she ordered pizza, the court heard, and she continued to claim child benefit for him.
Her trial at Bradford Crown Court was told that police searched her home after a community support officer became concerned about the smell coming from inside.
Paul Greaney QC, prosecuting, told the jury that once inside they found Hamzah, who died on December 15 2009, aged four-and-a-half.
"Hamzah's 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?"
The alarm was raised in September 2011 by police community support officer Jodie Worsley, the jury was told, who spoke to Miss Hutton after concerned calls from her neighbours in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
When Ms Worsley looked through the letterbox of the house "she could see nothing, but the smell from within made her gasp for breath".
When the PCSO and a colleague eventually got Miss Hutton to open the door they "were not persuaded by Amanda Hutton's claim that all was well."
"On the contrary," Mr Greaney said, "they were concerned by Amanda Hutton's appearance because flies were hovering all around her and by the terrible smell emanating from the house."
She called in back up and the team of officers who began searching the property were met with "conditions of squalor".
"What they discovered disturbed even hardened officers," Mr Greaney said.
It was in Hutton’s bedroom that police officer Richard Dove made the “dreadful discovery”.
"Within a cot, beneath other items, he found the mummified corpse of a child," Mr Greaney said.
The jury heard that Hutton abused alcohol and cannabis, and were told they would have to consider whether Hamzah "became a secondary and less important consideration than those addictions".
The defendant used to work as a care assistant and there was evidence that she had undergone some first-aid training, it was said.
Her lawyers are expected to argue that Hamzah's malnutrition could have arisen through "some naturally occurring condition".
Mr Greaney, explaining what had been said in police interview, told the court: “She (said she) sought to revive him but to no effect.
"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 Hamzah's body was found, it was found with a teddy."
She told police that things deteriorated after her son's death and she began to drink a bottle of vodka a day.
But Mr Greaney told the hearing that Hutton was guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence on two grounds - that she failed to feed him adequately and failed to seek medical assistance for him.
"Amanda Hutton failed to provide her child with the nourishment that he needed to survive and, in so failing, she killed him," he added.
Hamzah's father, Aftab Khan, was separated from Hutton and lived elsewhere, the court heard. Mr Greaney said there was evidence that he was violent towards the defendant.
The trial continues.
He had been starved to death, it is alleged, and was so malnourished he fitted into clothing designed for babies aged between six and nine months.
Hamzah’s mother Amanda Hutton, 43, a former care assistant, denies manslaughter.
Four-year-old Hamzah Khan and Hamzah's mother Amanda Hutton, who is facing manslaughter charges at Bradford Crown Court
Photo: Andrew McCaren/Ross Parry Agency
Within hours of his death she ordered pizza, the court heard, and she continued to claim child benefit for him.
Her trial at Bradford Crown Court was told that police searched her home after a community support officer became concerned about the smell coming from inside.
Paul Greaney QC, prosecuting, told the jury that once inside they found Hamzah, who died on December 15 2009, aged four-and-a-half.
"Hamzah's 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?"
The alarm was raised in September 2011 by police community support officer Jodie Worsley, the jury was told, who spoke to Miss Hutton after concerned calls from her neighbours in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
When Ms Worsley looked through the letterbox of the house "she could see nothing, but the smell from within made her gasp for breath".
When the PCSO and a colleague eventually got Miss Hutton to open the door they "were not persuaded by Amanda Hutton's claim that all was well."
"On the contrary," Mr Greaney said, "they were concerned by Amanda Hutton's appearance because flies were hovering all around her and by the terrible smell emanating from the house."
She called in back up and the team of officers who began searching the property were met with "conditions of squalor".
"What they discovered disturbed even hardened officers," Mr Greaney said.
It was in Hutton’s bedroom that police officer Richard Dove made the “dreadful discovery”.
"Within a cot, beneath other items, he found the mummified corpse of a child," Mr Greaney said.
The jury heard that Hutton abused alcohol and cannabis, and were told they would have to consider whether Hamzah "became a secondary and less important consideration than those addictions".
The defendant used to work as a care assistant and there was evidence that she had undergone some first-aid training, it was said.
Her lawyers are expected to argue that Hamzah's malnutrition could have arisen through "some naturally occurring condition".
Mr Greaney, explaining what had been said in police interview, told the court: “She (said she) sought to revive him but to no effect.
"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 Hamzah's body was found, it was found with a teddy."
She told police that things deteriorated after her son's death and she began to drink a bottle of vodka a day.
But Mr Greaney told the hearing that Hutton was guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence on two grounds - that she failed to feed him adequately and failed to seek medical assistance for him.
"Amanda Hutton failed to provide her child with the nourishment that he needed to survive and, in so failing, she killed him," he added.
Hamzah's father, Aftab Khan, was separated from Hutton and lived elsewhere, the court heard. Mr Greaney said there was evidence that he was violent towards the defendant.
The trial continues.
