Hakeem Hussain: Mother convicted of fatally neglecting son, 7, who died alone 'gasping for air'

A drug addict mother has been convicted of fatally neglecting her asthma-suffering seven-year-old son after he died alone "gasping for air" in a garden.

Hakeem Hussain was found dead in the garden of a Birmingham house on November 26, 2017.

Prosecutors said Laura Heath deliberately “prioritised her addiction to heroin and crack cocaine” prior to Hakeem's death from an asthma attack. 

An image shown during the trial at Coventry Crown Court showed how Heath had even used foil and an elastic band to adapt one of her son's inhalers to smoke crack.

Heath, formerly of Long Acre, Nechells, Birmingham, was convicted on Friday of gross negligence manslaughter of Hakeem, who died at the home of a friend where his mother had been staying.

Hakeem was described as "frail" and his death "preventable."

Before the trial, the 40-year-old had admitted four counts of child cruelty, including failing to provide proper medical supervision and exposing Hakeem to Class A drugs.

The prosecution said Heath mismanaged Hakeem's asthma as she disengaged with social workers and school staff during 2017.

She was accused of prioritising her spiralling drug habit over her son's health, even resorting to sex work to fund it, the court heard.

During the trial it emerged that social services in Birmingham were aware of Hakeem before his death, and just two days before his fatal collapse, a school nurse told a child protection conference that "he could die at the weekend."

A serious case review is set to be published within weeks, to assess all agencies' contact with Hakeem and his mother.

The head of Birmingham Children's Trust, which took over child services in 2018, said following the trial that there were "clear missed opportunities" in social services' handling of the case.

Heath will be sentenced next week.