Hutton jailed for 15 years

Siobhan Freegard, the founder of Netmums.com - says the reaction amongst her online community to the death of a four-year-old who starved to death was "not again".

Relatives of Hamzah Khan's mother Amanda Hutton - who was today jailed for 15 years, say they blame social services.

Netmums offers support for parents here

The father of a four-year-old boy who starved to death by his alcoholic mother has said that it could have been prevented if authorities had approached him.

Aftab Khan told ITV News that the "system has let my son down. They have all let my son down".

Read: Amanda Hutton jailed for 15 years

The step-father of Amanda Hutton has said social services and other agencies had failed to "look after" four-year-old Hamzah Khan, whose body was discovered at her home almost two years after he died in December 2009.

Mr Jackson added that it was "irrelevant" that Hutton had 'refused' help from services. He later added that he agreed with the sentencing, as she was jailed for 15 years today.

George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bradford West, where the mother of four-year-old boy Hamzah Khan lived, today condemned an email from the outgoing director of children's services in the city, Kath Tunstall, saying that "no serious concerns were reported to the statutory agencies".

Mr Galloway said he believed this was "in conflict with evidence which was given at the trial".

"But in any event it is deplorable that Ms Tunstall should try to wash her, and her department's hands, of any involvement or culpability in advance of the serious case review into what went wrong," he said.

Wiicked and devious - the words used by a judge to describe Amanda Hutton as he jailed her for 15 years for starving her son to death and keeping her other children in abject squalor. The alcoholic mother of eight was told she presented a danger to any child she lived with.

Her four and half year old son Hamzah was starved of food by Hutton who then kept his body in a cot in her bedroom for almost two years.

Tonight as she begins her jail sentence, it has been revealed that Bradford social services WERE warned by one of Hutton's neighbours about their concern for her children six months before Hamzah's body was found. Jon hill was at Bradford Crown Court.

Jon Hill reports from Bradford Crown Court on the sentencing today of Amanda Hutton and her son, Tariq Khan.

The court heard how salesman Tariq Khan was a "mummy's boy" who acted out of "misplaced loyalty" to Hutton. And the judge questioned the role of Aftab Khan - the father of all of Hutton's eight children.

The jury heard how Aftab Khan subjected Hutton to domestic violence over many years and in 2008, after he was arrested for an assault on her, told police that Hamzah was undernourished and claimed he was going to inform social services. But there is no record that call was ever made.

Judge Thomas told Hutton that for whatever irrational reason, she took against Hamzah from an early age - perhaps, infact, from the very day of his birth.

Judge Thomas told Hutton she "must be regarded as a real danger to any child with whom you may live or in any way have care of in the future".

He said the manslaughter of Hamzah involved "failing to provide him with anything like adequate nourishment over a long period of time - in short you starved him to death".