Mother 'killed son in failed murder suicide bid'

This article contains distressing details

A mother killed her eight-year-old son in a failed murder suicide attempt, a court has heard.

Rhys Cameron was fatally poisoned by juice laced with drugs at his home in Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, in September last year, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Louise Cameron, 41, has been charged with murder but was found unfit to stand trial, with jurors set to determine if she carried out the acts alleged.

Opening the case, prosecutor David Lamb KC said Cameron claimed she had tried to kill herself but did not want to leave her son behind.

The court heard Rhys was born prematurely and had issues with mobility and learning difficulties, while Cameron was a single mother who was in contact with social services.

Concerned relatives discovered a "groggy" Cameron and her unconscious son lying on a bed together at the family's home in Marsh House Avenue at about 10:00 BST on 15 September, the court heard.

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Lamb said it "looked like Rhys was asleep" but the relatives quickly realised he was dead, with Cameron "stroking her son's face and staring off into space".

Emergency services were called but it was "obvious" to paramedics Rhys had been dead "for some time", the court heard.

A note was found in which Cameron, who had taken a drugs overdose, had written she was going to kill herself but was "not dying without" her son.

The letter also confirmed she had given Rhys a combination of her prescription medication, which a pathologist later concluded was the cause of his death.

Cameron was taken to hospital where she told police officers she had intended to take her own life but wanted to "die together" with her son.

She told officers she "did not want to leave him behind", Lamb said.

She later said she was "getting done for murder" and "I've just murdered Rhys haven't I?", the court heard.

Cameron said she was "not leaving Rhys because I know what will happen to him".

She told police officers she "did not want to hurt him" or have to stab or drown him, the court was told.

Lamb said Cameron "chose to poison Rhys" as she believed it would be a "relatively painless way of killing him".

Rhys was last seen alive in public on 13 September when Cameron appeared "angry and frustrated" when her son became "upset" in a pub in Billingham, the court heard.

Lamb said it was believed Cameron repeatedly gave her son a pink Hello Kitty beaker containing blackcurrant juice laced with drugs later that evening, telling him to drink it even though he said it "did not taste good".

The judge, Mrs Justice Williams KC, said "through no fault of her own" Cameron was "not fit to stand trial" although she would be represented in court and could monitor proceedings by videolink.

It would be for the jury to decide "whether she did the acts which she has been charged with", the judge said.

She said it was "a very distressing case" but jurors had to "put emotion to one side" and concentrate on the evidence in a "fair, calm and measured way".

The trial continues.

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