CHILLING pictures show the squalid hellhole a tragic boy was forced to live in with his junkie mum that took a YEAR to clean up.
Laura Heath, 40, deliberately “prioritised her addiction to heroin and crack cocaine” over Hakeem Hussain and used his asthma inhalers to smoke drugs.
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The seven-year-old was found dead in the garden after “gasping for air” with no sign of his medication near him.
The vile mum was today jailed for 20 years after being found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter following a grim trial at Coventry Crown Court.
She previously admitted four counts of child cruelty.
Haunting photos show the filth the boy was forced to live in during the months leading up to his death.
He was made to sleep on the sofa while Heath funded her drug habit with sex work in the bedroom.
The grim pictures of the cramped family home in Birmingham also show rubbish piled up in the “unclean” rooms that “smelled of raw smoke.”
Shockingly, police also found Hakeem’s asthma pumps wrapped in foil next to “drug paraphernalia”.
The house was so disgusting it took the new tenants a year to clean it up, The Sun Online can reveal.
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A couple, who moved into the home in 2017, were horrified to discover the state of the flat.
The new occupier revealed: “It was a right mess. I had to do it all up. It took about 12 months – and it’s only a ground floor flat.
“The council removed all the drugs paraphernalia but it was still a grubby, smelly, horrible place.
“It was just really dirty. The whole place needed doing up.”
Shockingly, the couple were not about the tragedy that unfolded at their new house when they were offered it by the council.
They said they felt “angry” when they saw the shocking photos of the squalor after they were released by police.
The tenants now fear they could be targeted by vigilantes and wanted to make clear they had nothing to do with Heath or her sick crimes.
TRAGIC END
One added: “What’s happened here is absolutely disgusting and terrible, a young life has been taken.
“We’ve been here three years, it happened five years ago. And we’re new tenants and all we want is peace and quiet, we want to get on with our lives.
“It’s horrible what’s happened but it’s got nothing to do with us.
“I’m physically stressed because I’m disabled myself. I can understand why people are so angry – I get it. But I live here. It’s putting my life in danger.”
The judge today said Hakeem’s death resulted from Heath’s “catastrophic and deplorable” parenting after her life “entered a drug-fuelled downward spiral into squalor, chaos and tragedy”.
Heath flouted medical advice and failed to keep his asthma under control.
His breathing got worse “day by day” and just two days before his death, a school nurse warned Hakeem could “die over the weekend”.
On November 26, 2017, Hakeem had gone outside to get air, which he would usually do if his asthma was bad.
Usually he would wake his mum and ask her to give him an inhaler but she did not “come to his aid” on this occasion.
She was in a drug-induced sleep at the time having smoked three bags of heroin that night.
Hakeem was tragically found lifeless and “freezing” in the garden clutching a leaf in his hand with no sign of his medication near him.
‘HE’S DEAD’
His mum called 999 at 7.37am on November 26 – around six hours after tapping was heard at a downstairs window by a nearby resident.
She told the operator: “He’s dead… my son. He’s took himself outside when we’re asleep because he’s got asthma… and he’s fell asleep… he’s dead.
“He must have woke up and took himself outside so he can… he’s got asthma… he’s fell asleep outside… he must’ve done… he didn’t wake me up.”
Heath then told the operator Hakeem was “blue and stiff” before adding: “There’s no saving him. He’s gone.”
The sobbing mum was also heard saying “He’s my baby, he’s my baby” in the harrowing 999 call.
After he died, high concentrations of heroin and cocaine were found in Hakeem’s hair that in an adult would indicate “active use”.
His lungs were also “hyper-inflated, narrowed, stiffened and inflamed as a consequence of neglect” and he had inhaled cigarette smoke.
DRUG ADDICTION
Prosecutor Matthew Brook said: “The defendant had a duty to ensure the welfare of her son.
“She knew that he was suffering from severe uncontrolled asthma. There was an obvious risk that Hakeem might die from such an attack if she did not manage his asthma in accordance with the medical advice she received.
“Instead, the defendant deliberately prioritised her addiction to heroin and crack cocaine and flouted the medical advice that she received that would have kept her son’s asthma under control.”
Heath was Hakeem’s sole carer between May 2016 and November 2017 despite her drug addiction “spiralling out of control”.
In May 2017, the youngster was identified as a “child in need” by a social worker.
In his final months, a referral was made to Birmingham Children’s Services after Hakeem recorded 59 unauthorised absences from school.
He was also admitted to hospital three times – including in September 2017 when he suffered an “acute life-threatening asthma exacerbation”.
A serious case review was launched into Hakeem’s death with Birmingham Children’s Trust admitting there were “clear missed opportunities”.
After the verdict, children and staff at Nechells E-Act Academy where Hakeem was a pupil said: “Hakeem was a most beautiful little boy, a great friend to many staff and children with a wicked sense of humour and an infectious giggle.
“He was a warm and generous-hearted soul who was talented across many areas of the curriculum but especially so in music and the arts.
“He totally stole the show with his performance as the ‘Christmas Star’ in the year-two nativity play with his clear speaking voice and stage presence.
“There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as he delivered his lines with poignancy, grace and humour.
“The twinkle in his beautiful eyes was as bright as the stars in the sky, and our love for him will shine out forever, from all of his Nechells family.”
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