13 March 2010 / REUTERS, LONDON
A mother whose seven-year-old daughter starved to death in a house full of food was jailed for 15 years on Friday.
Angela Gordon, 35, and her former partner Junaid Abuhamza, 31, were cleared of murder during a trial at Birmingham Crown Court last month, but convicted of the manslaughter of Khyra Ishaq. Abuhamza was jailed indefinitely with a minimum term of seven-and-a half years, the Press Association reported. Gordon and Abuhamza admitted child cruelty charges relating to five other children in their care and control, who were also starved and abused. Khyra died in May 2008 after being taken to hospital from her home in Handsworth, Birmingham, in an emaciated condition. The judge said their regime of punishment was “chilling in its harshness and cruelty.” Mr. Justice Roderick Evans told them: “It is not right to say that these children suffered from neglect. Neglect is an inadequate and inappropriate description of the way they were treated. Rather, they were subjected to a domestic regime of punishment which was chilling in its harshness and cruelty. A regime introduced by you, Abuhamza, as it had its origins in your own upbringing, but a regime to which you, Gordon, became a party.” He told Gordon her cruelty was “horrific” and made worse because she was Khyra’s mother.
