London - A British woman who let her 4-year-old son starve to death was sentenced to 15 years in jail, a court in northern England ruled Friday.
Amanda Hutton, 43, was convicted of manslaughter and of failing to allow the burial of the child, the Crown Court in Bradford said.
The mummified body of the boy was found in September 2011, almost two years after he apparently starved to death. The mother of eight was reported to be an alcoholic.
Judge Roger Thomas said: “You placed your own selfish addiction to drink well before your responsibilities to your many children.”
Thomas said Hutton posed “a real danger” to children, and that “the squalor in which your surviving children were found in September 2011 was breathtakingly awful.”
The body was discovered after a rookie police officer visited the house after complaints from a neighbour about soiled nappies being thrown into her yard.
Hutton admitted during the trial to neglecting five of her other children, aged 5 to 13.
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