This mother from Bradford, England, ki*lled her 4-year-old son by starving him and then mummified his body and left it in a cot for more than two years. She will now spend 15 years in prison.
When a woman called police to say that her neighbour, Amanda Hutton, dumped dirty diapers in her garden at night, she had no idea what a horrible scene they would soon find.
A Horrific Discovery
It was September 2011. As police walked inside the home, the smell took their breath away.
Trash and debris lined every inch of the floor, countertops, and other areas throughout the home.
They found five kids who were all dirty, hungry, and covered in head lice. Because they didn’t treat their fungal infections, the kids were missing toenails.
The kids were between 5 and 11 years old, and some of them were still in diapers. No, they didn’t walk up the stairs; they crawled on their hands and knees.
Mummified Remains of 4-Year-Old
When the police opened Amanda’s bedroom door, they found the most shocking thing. There were a lot of bugs around a cot that was right next to Amanda’s bed. The smell was awful. The mummified body of 4-year-old Hamzah Khan was found buried under debris.
The severely malnourished boy wore the same onesie made for babies 6 to 9 months old that he wore when he died two years before. After putting Hamzah in the cot, Amanda continued to drink too much and forgot that her son was dead just inches from her head every night when she went to sleep. Hamzah died because he was hungry.
Police Make Arrest
Amanda was arrested by the police. The father wasn’t charged because he had been told by the court to stay away from the family after a fight with Amanda in 2008. After the attack, he went to jail.
Father Denies Knowledge of Ab*use; D*eath
Aftab Khan denied knowledge of neglect or a*buse of any of the children, saying that she “hid it well.”
Another thing he denied was that he was violent, and he said that he felt bad about his son’s de*ath. In 2013, he talked to The Guardian and said:
“I feel guilty. Of course I should have done more,” he said. “I feel responsibility as a father. But this was nothing to do with me. It’s clear cut. Believe me, if police had any evidence I’d been involved I’d be in that dock too.” He went on to say that social services was partially to blame for the accident. “They knew for a long time there had been problems.”
Signs Were There
So many of the family’s doctor appointments were missed that by May 2007, the family’s primary care doctor had stopped making appointments for everyone.
The couple lived in the house for two and a half years, and neighbours said they never saw any kids there. But they did hear crying and yelling through the walls. A neighbour of those kids made a complaint to Children’s Services.
It was one of at least 10 calls that were made to officials. They said the complaints never “met the threshold” for sanctuary action.
Hutton’s Eldest Son Charged in Brother’s D*eath
Tariq, Hutton’s 24-year-old oldest son, admitted that he stopped Hamzah from being buried legally. He got a sentence of two years with no jail time. After the trial, Tariq said he felt bad about how he helped hide his brother’s dea*th. Hutton told the kids he would k*ill them if they called the police, and Tariq says he put a knife to each of their throats at least once.
