A mother who fatally neglected her seven-year-old son has been sentenced to 20 years in jail.
Seven-year-old Hakeem Hussain died of a fatal asthma attack at a home in Nechells in Birmingham in November 2017. His mother, Laura Heath, was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter following a trial at Coventry Crown Court.
She had already pleaded guilty to four child cruelty offences, including two counts of 'wilfully neglecting her son by failing to provide proper medical supervision in a manner likely to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury to health', and two offences of 'wilfully ill-treating Hakeem by exposing him to heroin and crack cocaine'.
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As Justice Dove sentenced Heath to 20 years, he told the court the punishment is uplifted above the normal bracket for gross negligence manslaughter to take into account of the 'totality' of the offences, including the child cruelty charges, according to Birmingham Live.
A young male in the public gallery reacted aggressively and had to be restrained as Heath was led away. Hakeem was found dead in the garden of a home in Cook Street on the morning of Sunday, November 26, 2017.
Heath had taken him to stay at the property after the gas and electric had been turned off at her own house in nearby Long Acre for none-payment. She had smoked heroin before going to bed on the night before Hakeem died.
It is believed he woke up in the night short of breath and went outside where he suffered a final exacerbation of his condition, without his inhalers to hand. Heath had mismanaged her son's asthma throughout 2017 as she prioritised her spiralling addiction to Class A drugs, which she funded through sex work, stealing and borrowing money under false pretences.
She had also disengaged with social services and school staff, who became increasingly concerned for the boy's welfare.
