A heroin-addict mother whose child died after drinking her methadone has pleaded guilty to cruelty.

Leeds Crown Court heard three-year-old Isaac Ebrahim Karolia was found unconscious with the drug on his hands, clothes and hair after his mother Malainy Lynch dozed off in January 1998.

Lynch, 26, of Mond Avenue, Bradford Moor, Bradford, had been living with her son in a flat in Batley Carr while having a relationship with Isaac's father, Ebrahim Hasan Karolia.

Prosecutor Stephen Williamson QC told the court that Mr Karolia visited the flat and found Lynch crying on the sofa with her son next to her.

He said: "When he asked what was going on she said 'he's dead'. He was cold to the touch and not breathing.

Mr Williamson told the court Lynch had a two-week prescription of the heroin substitute which Isaac had found.

Defence barrister James Stewart said a diary Lynch kept revealed she was depressed, lonely and struggled to keep awake during the day.

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Brian Walsh, adjourned sentencing for pre-sentence reports.

He said: "Great care must be taken in deciding what to do. We are considering the death of a child and nothing must suggest that the life of a child can be cheapened."

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