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| Amanda Hutton denies starving four-year-old son to death | Amanda Hutton denies starving four-year-old son to death |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| 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, a jury has heard. | 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, a jury has heard. |
| Hamzah Khan was still dressed in a babygrow when police made the "dreadful discovery" at his house in Bradford in September 2011, the court was told. | Hamzah Khan was still dressed in a babygrow when police made the "dreadful discovery" at his house in Bradford in September 2011, the court was told. |
| The boy's mother, Amanda Hutton, 43, has gone on trial at Bradford Crown Court charged with her son's manslaughter. | The boy's mother, Amanda Hutton, 43, has gone on trial at Bradford Crown Court charged with her son's manslaughter. |
| Ms Hutton has denied the charge. | Ms Hutton has denied the charge. |
| 'Starved to death' | |
| Opening the case for the prosecution, Paul Greaney QC told the jury Hamzah died on 15 December 2009 when he was four-and-a-half years old. | |
| But the barrister said the boy's remains were found 21 months later in clothing intended for a baby aged six to nine months. | |
| These clothes still fitted him because his 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?" | |
| Ms Hutton had failed to provide her son with the nourishment he needed to survive and, by failing to do so, she had killed him, said Mr Greaney. | |
| 'Conditions of squalor' | |
| He added the "dreadful discovery" of Hamzah's body was made after a police community support officer spoke to Ms Hutton and became concerned. | |
| Eventually, more police arrived and went into the property and were faced with "conditions of squalor". | |
| "What they discovered disturbed even hardened officers," said Mr Greaney. | |
| Ms Hutton was an abuser of alcohol and cannabis, the court was told. | |
| The jury would have to consider whether Hamzah was "a secondary and less important consideration than those addictions", Mr Greaney said. | |
| The trial continues. |