The mummified corpse of a four-year-old boy was found in a cot in his mother's bedroom almost two years after he starved to death, a jury has been told.

Hamzah Khan's body was still dressed in a baby-gro when police made the "dreadful discovery" at his house in Bradford, West Yorkshire, a court heard.

Details of how Hamzah's body was found in September 2011 were outlined when his mother Amanda Hutton went on trial at a UK court today.

Hutton, 43, denies her son's manslaughter.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Paul Greaney QC told the jury that Hamzah died when he was four-and-a-half years old on December 15 2009.

But the barrister said his remains were found 21 months later in clothing intended for a baby aged six to nine months.

He said these clothes fitted him.

"Hamzah's growth had been stunted," Mr Greaney said.

"It had been stunted because he was malnourished over a lengthy period and that state of affairs resulted in his death.

"In short, he starved to death.

"How had a child starved to death in 21st century England?"

He said: "Amanda Hutton failed to provide her child with the nourishment that he needed to survive and, in so failing, she killed him."

Hutton watched the proceedings from the dock dressed in a black top, cardigan and skirt.

She was flanked by one woman security officer.