Amanda Hutton guilty of manslaughter of son, four

Amanda Hutton has been found guilty of the manslaughter of her four-year-old son Hamzah Khan at Bradford Crown Court.
Amanda Hutton: Found guilty of manslaughter of four-year-old son Hamzah Khan. Picture: PAAmanda Hutton: Found guilty of manslaughter of four-year-old son Hamzah Khan. Picture: PA
Amanda Hutton: Found guilty of manslaughter of four-year-old son Hamzah Khan. Picture: PA

Hutton, 43, denied killing Hamzah, whose decomposed and insect-infested body was found in a travel cot in her bedroom.

A two-week trial heard that his remains had been in the cot for almost two years when they were found by police searching the house on September 21 2011.

The little boy had died on December 15 2009.

Four-year-old Hamzah Khan, who is believed to have died of malnutrition. Picture: PAFour-year-old Hamzah Khan, who is believed to have died of malnutrition. Picture: PA
Four-year-old Hamzah Khan, who is believed to have died of malnutrition. Picture: PA
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The jury has heard that Hamzah’s body was found in the house in the Heaton area of the city in terrible squalor, where five other school-aged siblings were living.

Hutton has admitted a charge of child cruelty in respect of each of these children, who were aged between five and 13 in 2011.

Prosecutors told the jury of eight men and four women that Hamzah most probably died from malnutrition because Hutton neglected him as she concentrated on her alcohol addiction.

The jury found she starved her son to death.

But Hutton told the court that she struggled to get her son to eat and he died suddenly. She claimed she never sought medical advice because she thought he was going through a phase and would grow out of it.

Hutton panicked after his death and only kept claiming child benefit for Hamzah because she was worried that, if she stopped, his body would be discovered.

She also said she was worried the other children would be taken away if Hamzah’s death was discovered.

Hutton has also admitted a charge of preventing the burial of a corpse, along with her eldest son, Tariq, 24.

Tariq will also be sentenced tomorrow.

Speaking outside court, Malcolm Taylor, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a truly tragic case involving the death of a little boy, Hamzah Khan, whose body, showing signs of extreme malnutrition, was discovered amidst scenes of the most appalling squalor at the family home in Bradford.

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“It is likely his body had lain undiscovered for the best part of two years.

“It is heart-breaking to contemplate the suffering Hamzah must have endured.

“This horrific crime was compounded by the failure of either Amanda Hutton or Tariq Khan to arrange the burial of Hamzah’s body.”

Mr Taylor said: “Our thoughts remain with the rest of Hamzah’s family in the hope that they can now start to rebuild their lives.”

Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: “This is a stark reminder that neglect is a form of child abuse as harmful as physical abuse and, as in this case, can result in a child fatality.

“Fortunately, this type of extreme case is quite rare but we do know that almost one in 10 children in the UK are neglected by their parents or carers.

“It is self-evident that something went seriously wrong for this child. It appears Hamzah disappeared off the radar of his community and services, and a full picture of the horror that was his life emerged two years too late.”

Head of safeguarding at Action for Children Shaun Kelly said: “Hamzah’s is yet another tragic story of a child who was invisible to society and died at the hands of a parent.

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“School teachers, police officers, social workers and health visitors have told us about the barriers they face when they want to help a child that they suspect is being neglected. It seems that people are so afraid of doing the wrong thing that they don’t do anything at all and it all adds up to a systemic failure to protect the most vulnerable.

“More support for professionals who work with children is vital. When speaking with families, they can’t take what is being said at face value, they must trust their instincts and escalate their concerns.

“They need to be allowed to be braver, to push harder by being persistent and take action to protect a child, or child neglect will continue to kill.”

How Amanda Hutton’s alcoholism was key to case

Amanda Hutton is an alcoholic mother-of-eight whose drinking took over her life to such an extent that she neglected her children and starved her four-year-old son to death.

Hutton began abusing alcohol and cannabis more than 20 years ago and the story of her addiction was central to the arguments over how Hamzah Khan died.

The 43-year-old former care worker claimed that although she went through periods of heavy drinking before Hamzah’s death, it was only after the tragedy that it dominated her life.

She said her house descended into what her barrister described as “appalling squalor” and she “drank herself into oblivion” only after December 15, 2009.

But prosecutors told her “you cared more about alcohol than you did about that child” and told the jury how “as the child wasted away, she did nothing but sit in her bedroom and drink vodka”.

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Family, friends, professionals and even her other children have talked about Hutton’s heavy drinking dating back years before Hamzah’s death - or even his birth.

Her grown-up son, Qaiser, now 22, described how his mother - who once worked in an old people’s home - would take to her bedroom with a bottle during the daytime when he was young.

Hutton’s continuing alcohol problems were highlighted during the trial when, on the day her defence was due to begin, she was too drunk to give evidence after the police delivered her to court.

Her explanation for this involved another key factor in Hutton’s life - her volatile relationship with Hamzah’s father Aftab Khan.

She said her behaviour that day in court was prompted by a visit from Khan, whom she first started seeing in the 1980s.

Police were called to allegations of domestic violence by Khan numerous times over nearly 20 years.

The couple split in December 2008 after an incident which led to Khan’s conviction for assaulting Hutton and a court granted a non-molestation order to keep him away.

At this point she and most of her children, including Hamzah, moved out of Khan’s house, where they had lived for many years.

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They moved to another home in Bradford for a few months but then moved again, to the house where Hamzah died.

What happened at that house in the nine months between moving in and Hamzah dying might never be fully known.

Hutton admitted she had problems getting Hamzah to eat, saying he was “fussy or faddy” with food.

But other children in the house said he was fed less than the others.

One of the youngsters said in a video interview seen by the jury that Hamzah was in the bath the day before he died and looked “absolutely appalling”.

The child said: “He looked really skinny, stick thin. He didn’t get fed much. He got fed a lot less than we did.”

The youngster said Hamzah only got one meal a day and had difficulty walking.

The child said Hutton vomited regularly and could not walk properly because of her alcohol consumption.

“She drank more vodka than water,” the youngster said.

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In the weeks before his death, Hutton said she was feeding Hamzah just a Complan-type nourishment drink to try to get his weight up.

Another witness talked of him existing on bananas, milk and anything else he could find around the house.

But Hutton said she did not have any real concerns because Qaiser and another of her children had gone through a similar stage and grown out of it.

Even when Hamzah was ill the day before he died, she said she thought it was not serious enough to call for medical help and claimed he perked up the next morning.

On the day of Hamzah’s death Hutton went to a supermarket but was called back by another son, Tariq, now 24, because something was wrong.

She told the jury she returned to find Hamzah dead.

Detailed forensic evidence showed her son had suffered malnutrition and this most likely contributed “wholly or in part” to his death.

When his body was found, it was in a baby-gro intended for a six to nine-month-old baby. It fitted him - he was four-and-half years old.

Even before Hamzah’s body was found with a teddy in a travel cot, under shoes, clothes and blankets, police found a house in a state of squalor which the judge described as a “terrible Pandora’s box”.

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The four-bed terrace was filled with rubbish and a terrible smell. The lounge was almost knee deep in vodka bottles, takeaway containers and other debris.

Children’s beds were soaked in urine and, in the fridge, there was rotting food and ready meals that were months out of date.

One of the first police officers who went into the house, Pc Jane Lax, said she was “overcome by emotion” by some of the things she saw, including the sight of two children dressed only in dirty nappies crawling up the stairs towards her.

Pc Lax also recalled finding it difficult to cope with the sight of one child the house on their knees, rummaging through piles of rotting debris in a bedroom, preparing to leave the house with the officers.

She said there were emotional scenes when the remaining children were removed from the property. She said she remembered one giving Hutton a hug as she sat on her bed.

Another of Hamzah’s siblings told police about trying to give Hamzah mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to keep him alive.

One told police how Hutton instructed them to tell people that Hamzah had gone to stay with his uncle in Portsmouth.

Hutton told the jury it was a relief when she was arrested in September 2011 and Hamzah’s death was finally discovered.

Some neighbours told the jury of their shock when police came out of Hutton’s house with children they never knew existed.