Mother convicted of manslaughter over son's death
Hakeem Hussain died from an asthma attack in November 2017 in Birmingham.
Last updated 22nd Apr 2022
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A woman has been found guilty of manslaughter of her seven-year-old son after fatally neglecting him during an asthma attack, which led to his death.
Laura Heath, 40, formerly of Long Acre, Nechells, Birmingham left severely asthmatic Hakeem Hussain to die alone in his garden and "gasping for air", whilst she was asleep having smoked heroin on the night of Hakeem’s asthma attack.
Prosecutors told jurors at Coventry Crown Court that Laura Heath deliberately “prioritised her addiction to heroin and crack cocaine” prior to the “preventable” death of Hakeem on November 26, 2017.
Heath had also previously admitted to four counts of child cruelty, including failing to provide proper medical supervision and exposing Hakeem to class A drugs.
Jurors during the trial at Coventry Crown Court were showed how Heath had even used foil and an elastic band to rig one of her son's blue inhalers to smoke crack, fuelling a £55-a-day habit.
Social services in Birmingham were already aware of Hakeem before his death.
It emerged at Heath's month-long trial that at a child protection conference on November 24, 2017, just two days before his death, a school nurse told the meeting "he could die at the weekend".
A serious case review into all agencies' who had contact with Hakeem and his mother, before he died, is set to be published in the next few weeks.
Following the trial, the head of Birmingham Children's Trust, which took over child social services in early 2018, said there were "clear missed opportunities" in social services' handling of the case.
Heath will be sentenced next week.