A 7-year-old boy died of an asthma attack after his mother converted his inhaler to use as a crack pipe

• A 7-year-old boy died of an asthma attack after his mother converted his inhaler to use as a crack pipe.
• The judge told the mother that her son had died because of her "deplorable negligence."

A British mother has been jailed for her 7-year-old son's death from an asthma attack after she converted his inhaler into a crack pipe.

Laura Heath, 40, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday at Coventry Crown Court for the manslaughter of her son, Hakeem Hussain, in 2017, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The court heard that Hussain died alone in a garden in Nechells, Birmingham, while his mother was in a heroin-induced sleep, according to The Telegraph.

The boy is believed to have gone outside to get some air while experiencing breathing difficulties where he died of "uncontrolled asthma," according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Hussain had been admitted to hospital three times in the previous two years because of his asthma, according to The Telegraph, but was left without his inhaler after his mother modified it for drug use.

Images presented in court showed that Heath had modified the inhaler with foil and an elastic band to use to smoke crack, Sky News said.

A toxicology report also revealed that the boy had inhaled tobacco smoke before his death. The boy was also exposed to heroin, crack cocaine, and cannabis through second-hand smoke, according to The Telegraph.

Heath admitted four counts of child cruelty, including failure to provide proper medical supervision and exposing him to class A drugs.

While passing his sentence, Mr. Justice Dove told Heath that the boy's death had happened after her life "entered a drug-fuelled downward spiral into squalor, chaos and tragedy."

"The truth is that Hakeem died as a result of your deplorable negligence," the judge said.

"You had allowed your life to be completely overtaken by your addiction to heroin and cocaine. His death was needless, tragic and a result of your abject failure as his mother."

The judge said that the boy had been "an inspiration of happiness and affection for people who knew him."

"All of that potential for a wonderful and fulfilling life was cut short, extinguished as he collapsed on his own suffocating, clutching a leaf in the garden."

The judge ruled Heath should serve two-thirds of her sentence before being eligible for parole.