Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain

Top Menu

  • About US
  • Join US
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Comment
  • Question and Answer
  • Watch us Live

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Viewpoint
  • Islamic Culture
  • Da’wah
  • Media
  • People
    • Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabahani (Founder)
    • Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum (Successor)
    • Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta (Ameer)
    • Abdul Wahid
    • Abu Yusuf
    • Jamal Harwood
    • Taji Mustafa
  • Books
  • Youth
  • Covid-19
  • About US
  • Join US
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Comment
  • Question and Answer
  • Watch us Live

logo

Header Banner

Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain

  • Home
  • Viewpoint
    • Bangladesh Floods: farcical mantra of economic success disguising failure to provide basic ...

      June 24, 2022
      0
    • The Sectarian Card – Shia and Sunni divisions under the spotlight

      June 5, 2022
      0
    • Making Sense of Pakistan

      April 16, 2022
      0
    • How Should We View the War in Ukraine?

      March 30, 2022
      0
    • The India Hijab Issue from an Islamic Perspective

      March 24, 2022
      0
    • DEEP DIVE: The Weaponisation and Politicisation of British Citizenship Laws

      March 12, 2022
      0
    • Our Role in the Ukraine war is to Expose the Propaganda

      March 2, 2022
      0
    • Muslims Should Rejoice Over the Islamic Ruling System

      January 21, 2022
      0
    • Another Warmonger Honoured for Serving the British Elite

      January 2, 2022
      0
  • Islamic Culture
    • Reading Quran

      The story of the man who was told to “Enter Paradise” and ...

      January 24, 2022
      0
    • Significance of Rabi’ul-Awwal

      October 10, 2021
      0
    • Virtues of the Month of Muharram

      August 10, 2021
      0
    • The significance of first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah

      July 10, 2021
      0
    • The Honour of the Prophets

      April 30, 2021
      0
    • A to Z of Ramadan

      April 19, 2021
      0
    • The Dawah to Allah (swt)

      December 29, 2020
      0
    • Miracle of the Quran

      Q & A - Compilation of The Holy Quran During the Reign ...

      December 27, 2020
      0
    • Imam Bukhari: A Role Model for the ‘Ulema and Da’wah Carriers to ...

      November 17, 2020
      0
  • Da’wah
    • National Conferences : From al-Hind to al-Quds: Speak Out | Act | ...

      June 18, 2022
      0
    • Public Demonstration - Independence Not Intervention

      April 22, 2022
      0
    • VIDEO : [LIVESTREAMED] Pakistan in Crisis: The Players, Politics, and People

      April 20, 2022
      0
    • Ramadan Message: The World Needs Islam - We Must Work for the ...

      April 1, 2022
      0
    • The India Hijab Issue from an Islamic Perspective

      March 24, 2022
      0
    • Ramadhan event: Kyiv to Kabul: The World Needs Islam

      March 20, 2022
      0
    • Obituary of a Dawah Carrier Dr. Youssef Haj Youssef

      December 30, 2021
      0
    • Open Letter to Imams and Muslim Leaders

      September 28, 2021
      0
    • Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain Sends Delegation to Chinese Embassy Condemning the Inhumane Treatment ...

      June 30, 2021
      0
  • Media
  • People
    • Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabahani (Founder)
    • Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum (Successor)
    • Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta (Ameer)
    • Abdul Wahid
    • Abu Yusuf
    • Jamal Harwood
    • Taji Mustafa
  • Books
  • Youth
  • Covid-19
News Watch
Home›News Watch›Hamzah Khan: ‘How did a child starve to death in 21st-century England?’

Hamzah Khan: ‘How did a child starve to death in 21st-century England?’

By Press Editor
September 19, 2013
821
0
Share:

Four-year-old’s mummified body was resting next to teddy bear in his mother’s house when discovered by police in Bradford

A mummified, stunted corpse of a four-year old boy lay undiscovered for nearly two years in his mother’s house before he was found by police resting next to his teddy bear, a court was told on Wednesday.

Hamzah Khan’s tiny body, starved by years of neglect, was clothed in a sleep suit designed for a baby aged six to nine months when police made the discovery at his home in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

His mother, 43-year-old Amanda Hutton, who on Wednesday at Bradford crown court denied manslaughter, was discovered surrounded by empty bottles, pizza boxes and faeces when police raided the property. Upstairs, under a pile of debris which covered his travel cot, lay the body of her son, the court was told.

Paul Greaney QC, opening the case for the prosecution, accused Hamzah’s mother of neglecting the infant. “In short, he starved to death. How had a child starved to death in 21st century England? Amanda Hutton failed to provide her child with the nourishment that he needed to survive, and in so failing, she killed him.”

When police entered Hutton’s property in September 2011, after complaints about the smell coming from the house, “what they discovered disturbed even hardened officers,” said Greaney. “Within a cot in the bedroom of Amanda Hutton, a police officer named Richard Dove made a dreadful discovery. Within that cot, beneath other items, he found the mummified corpse of a child.”

The mother, the court heard, was addicted to both alcohol and cannabis. That day Hutton was found surrounded by flies and rubbish piled so high the carpet in her living room was no longer visible. Pictures of the squalor shown to the jury revealed that only her bedroom – where the decomposing body of her son had lain for years – was relatively uncluttered.

In police interviews, Hutton said Hamzah became very unwell on 14 December 2009. She told police she had gone to a pharmacist the next day, but had received a phone call asking her to come home.

“She explained that when she returned Hamzah was near to death. She sought to revive him but to no effect,” said Greaney. “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 when Hamzah’s body was found, it was found with a teddy.”

But Greaney added that instead of dialling 999 Hutton then abandoned the child. “She made no call for assistance, for a doctor or an ambulance. What did she do? Within hours, she was ordering a pizza,” he said.

Arguing that Hutton is guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence on two grounds, Greaney said she had either failed to feed her child adequately or seek medical help to prevent his death.

The prosecution added that while it expected Hutton’s defence lawyers to argue that Hamzah’s malnutrition could have arisen through “some naturally occurring condition”, the jury would have to consider whether her young child had become “a secondary and less important consideration than [Hutton’s] addictions”.

In the 21 months after Hamzah’s death, the jury heard that Hutton continued to claim child benefit for her son. The jury would have to decide whether this demonstrated “anything about her attitude towards Hamzah”, said Greaney.

There was evidence, he said, that Hutton had suffered domestic violence at the hands of the child’s father, her former partner Aftab Khan, who did not live at the property. Hutton, who told police she had started to drink a bottle of vodka a day after her son’s death, previously worked as a care assistant and had undergone some first-aid training, he added.

Greaney said the discovery of the child was thanks in large part to the diligence of police community support officer, Jodie Worsley, who had spoken to Hutton and visited the house several times.

The recently recruited officer visited the house a number of times after complaints from neighbours, demonstrating a “conscientious and tenacious approach [that] would have done a seasoned detective credit”, said the prosecutor.

Dead flies covered the windowsill, and when Worsley looked through the letterbox of the house “she could see nothing, but the smell from within made her gasp for breath”, he said.

When Hutton opened her door, officers “were not persuaded by Amanda Hutton’s claim that all was well”. He said: “On the contrary, they were concerned by Amanda Hutton’s appearance because flies were hovering all around her and by the terrible smell emanating from the house.”

Greaney told the court that as Hutton was being taken to the police station a police officer said to Hutton: “You know what’s been found, don’t you Amanda?” The jury heard that she replied: “He died two years ago on the 15th December.”

The case continues.

Guardian

Previous Article

Egypt: Frenchman dies in police custody amid ...

Next Article

Number of children blackmailed into webcam sex ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +

National Conferences

Join US on Telegram

Podcast

Latest Posts

Viewpoint

Bangladesh Floods: farcical mantra of economic success disguising failure to provide basic protection

Yet another monsoon season has ravaged Bangladesh, with the existing government as ill prepared as ever. More than 4.5 million people have been totally stranded and many killed in perhaps the ...
  • National Conferences : From al-Hind to al-Quds: Speak Out | Act | Liberate

    By Editor
    June 18, 2022
  • The Champions of Free Speech Haven’t a Leg to Stand on

    By Yahya Nisbet
    June 13, 2022
  • Two July Conferences on Indian and Zionist Oppression Organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain

    By Yahya Nisbet
    June 10, 2022
  • The Sectarian Card – Shia and Sunni divisions under the spotlight

    By Editor
    June 5, 2022
  • Muslims Must Condemn the Hate Filled Film and the Attempt to Divide Us

    By Yahya Nisbet
    June 5, 2022
  • Protest in London Says No To More Democracy, Yes to the Khilafah

    By Yahya Nisbet
    May 7, 2022
  • Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain to Protest American Interference in Pakistan’s Politics

    By Yahya Nisbet
    May 1, 2022
  • Press Centre