THE shocking squalor in which the body of murdered baby Declan Hainey was kept for several months has been revealed.
The toddler was found partly mummified in his cot by his grandmother and other relatives in March last year, some eight months after the toddler was last seen alive, when aged around 15 months.
Surrounding him was the utter chaos and decay that mirrored the life of his mother Kimberley, 42, a heroin user and hard drinker, who is due to be sentenced for her son's murder today at the High Court in Glasgow.
Pictures taken at the time show the baby's playpen had become a rubbish dump of cider bottles, lager cans and takeaway cartons, with numerous vodka bottles piling up around the child's enclosure.
Strewn nearby on the sofa is a quilt and what appears to be foil used to smoke drugs and a number of lighters with a Pot Noodle carton full to the brim of cigarettes. A filthy kitchen is hard to make out underneath the litter and the mess.
Evidence of the baby is all around, with unworn clothes littering the floor and pictures of a toddler in happier days pinned to the fridge.
Inside are pots of uneaten baby food with a teething soother stored in the door. Nappies, some which appear to have been used, fill up a baby bath.
The High Court in Glasgow earlier heard that Hainey had become pregnant with her boy while using heroin but later managed to come off the drug. At this point she was released from a social services and health programme set up for addicted parents.
However, she embarked on hard drinking and started to leave Declan on his own as she partied with a boyfriend.
Concerned relatives and neighbours would be brushed off with excuses as to the child's whereabouts and a health visitor made repeated but unsuccessful attempts to call on mother and boy.
As Hainey went further underground, her GP surgery was on the verge of reporting Hainey as missing, prompting her mother and stepfather, who had earlier offered to care for the child, to gain entry to the flat. They are said to have been deeply traumatised about what they found.
Hainey has repeatedly denied murdering her son, insisting in court that she was a good mother.
No cause of death could be given for Declan given the badly decomposed state of his body.
Last night a Scottish Government spokesman described Declan's death as an "appalling tragedy" and the "shocking images simply underline the dreadful suffering he was forced to endure."
He added the First Minister Alex Salmond will consider any request for a meeting to discuss issues raised during the case, but it was a matter for the Crown as to whether a fatal accident inquiry is held.
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