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Khyra's mother guilty of killing Khyra's mother guilty of killing
(about 2 hours later)
A mother who starved her seven-year-old daughter to death has been cleared of her murder and has had her plea of guilty to manslaughter accepted. A mother who starved her seven-year-old daughter to death has been cleared of murder, but has admitted manslaughter.
Prosecutors accepted Angela Gordon's defence of diminished responsibility over the death of Khyra Ishaq. Prosecutors accepted Angela Gordon's defence of diminished responsibility over the death of Khyra Ishaq and agreed to the lesser charge.
Gordon's partner Junaid Abuhamza had a manslaughter plea accepted following a report on his mental health. Gordon's partner, Junaid Abuhamza, had a manslaughter plea accepted following an earlier report on his mental health.
Khyra was found severely emaciated at a house in Handsworth, Birmingham, in 2008 and died in hospital.Khyra was found severely emaciated at a house in Handsworth, Birmingham, in 2008 and died in hospital.
Denied food Following the end of the trial, it was revealed a judge in the High Court had concluded that "in all probability" Khyra would be alive if there had been "an adequate initial assessment by educational welfare services".
Birmingham Crown Court heard medical professionals treating Khyra found her condition was "outside of their experience". In a ruling which could only be reported at the end of the criminal trial, Mrs Justice King said: "It is beyond belief that, in 2008, in a bustling, energetic and modern city like Birmingham, a child of seven was withdrawn from school and thereafter kept in squalid conditions for a period of five months before finally dying of starvation."
Paramedic Steve Hadlington told the retrial, an earlier trial collapsed, that Gordon, of Leyton Road, showed very little emotion as he and his colleagues tried to save her daughter.
Khyra died in hospital of an infection which the prosecution said was the result of her being deliberately starved.
Who is the man who killed Khyra? Could Khyra have been saved?Who is the man who killed Khyra? Could Khyra have been saved?
Police said she had been beaten, starved and kept a virtual prisoner away from the other children which Gordon, 35, was looking after. But the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board, which is carrying out a "serious case review", said current legislation had hampered intervention by people who may have been able to help Khyra.
Jurors were shown pictures from inside the terraced house, including photographs of a "well-stocked" kitchen and a cane used as part of a "punishment regime". Local Labour MP Khalid Mahmood has called for a public inquiry into social services handling of the case.
Prosecutor Timothy Raggatt QC said: "It isn't that this house was short of food, as you can see, there is lots of food in this household." The city council said it had already carried out major improvements in the protection of vulnerable children and had improved the way it worked with other agencies.
Gordon and Abuhamza, 31, have also admitted five charges of child cruelty relating to the other children. Det Insp Sean Russell of West Midlands Police, who led the investigation, said he believed Khyra had been kept a virtual prisoner in an upstairs room.
The decision by the Crown to accept Gordon's plea on the lesser charge of manslaughter came after she admitted the child cruelty charges and psychiatrists agreed that she had been suffering from severe depression when Khyra died. "The defendants had created a situation in which the children, who were being educated at home, had been kept away from their extended family, friends and the outside world," he said.
Mr Raggatt said: "It is extraordinary that it emerges so late (in the trial) but the sole reason for that is the denial... that Angela Gordon has put up around herself for all these months." Dangerous malnutrition
Birmingham Crown Court heard medical tending to her had not seen such a severe case of malnutrition.
During the retrial - ordered after the first trial collapsed - jurors heard that Khyra was killed by an infection caused by months of deliberate starvation.
The house was well-stocked with food, but this was kept locked away out of the reach of Khyra and five other children in the care of the defendants.
Det Insp Sean Russell said his officers were "reduced to tears"Det Insp Sean Russell said his officers were "reduced to tears"
The other children were also starved, two of them suffering from dangerous malnutrition by the time they were rescued.
Gordon, 35, and Abuhamza, 31, have also admitted five charges of child cruelty relating to the other children.
The decision by the Crown to accept Gordon's plea on the lesser charge of manslaughter came after she admitted the cruelty charges and psychiatrists agreed that she had been suffering from severe depression when Khyra died.
Before she pleaded guilty to child cruelty and was cleared of murder, her counsel, Michael Burrows QC, said psychiatrists had agreed that her condition impaired her ability to function effectively as a mother.Before she pleaded guilty to child cruelty and was cleared of murder, her counsel, Michael Burrows QC, said psychiatrists had agreed that her condition impaired her ability to function effectively as a mother.
He said: "The jury already know that Angela Gordon has been assessed by three psychiatrists.
"From what they have said in reports, it is clear and beyond dispute that Angela Gordon was, from the beginning of 2008, depressed, and for a period of around a month before Khyra's death, severely depressed."
Abuhamza's plea of guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder was accepted earlier this month.Abuhamza's plea of guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder was accepted earlier this month.
He was convicted by the jury after direction from the judge, Mr Justice Roderick Evans.
Abuhamza had told the court he was brutally abused as a child and witnessed his father beating his younger sister to death when he was five years old.
He told jurors he had beaten Khyra with a cane, had made her stand outside in the cold and had thrown cold water over her. He said he blamed himself for Khyra's death.
Khyra's father 'tried to get help'
After the case, Khyra's natural father Ishaq Abuzaire said he was satisfied with the result.
"I think manslaughter was the right decision and the right outcome," he said.
He said it had been "horrific" to see professionals reduced to tears and also disclosed that he had not been able to bring himself to look a pictures of Khyra's injuries.
Det Insp Sean Russell, of West Midlands Police, who led the investigation said he believed Khyra had been kept a virtual prisoner in an upstairs room.
He said she had been the subject of numerous beatings, starved of food, and kept away from the other children.
"The defendants had created a situation in which the children, who were being educated at home, had been kept away from their extended family, friends and the outside world," he said.
Martin Lindop of the Crown Prosecution Service said the manslaughter pleas were accepted as a result of psychiatric reports.Martin Lindop of the Crown Prosecution Service said the manslaughter pleas were accepted as a result of psychiatric reports.
Khyra's father 'tried to get help'
"As a result of the content of a number of psychiatric reports, which we received at a very late stage in the case, we concluded the charge of murder in relation to Khyra Ishaq could no longer be sustained," he said."As a result of the content of a number of psychiatric reports, which we received at a very late stage in the case, we concluded the charge of murder in relation to Khyra Ishaq could no longer be sustained," he said.
Abuhamza had told the court he was brutally abused as a child and witnessed his father beating his younger sister to death when he was five years old.
After the case, Khyra's natural father Ishaq Abuzaire said: "I think manslaughter was the right decision and the right outcome."
Gordon and Abuhamza will be sentenced on Friday next week.Gordon and Abuhamza will be sentenced on Friday next week.