A mother killed her eight-year-old son by lacing his blackcurrant juice with prescription medication before attempting to take her own life, a court has heard — with relatives arriving at the family home to find the boy dead in bed beside his unconscious mother.
Louise Cameron, 41, has been charged with murder but was found unfit to stand trial, with jurors at Teesside Crown Court asked instead to determine whether she carried out the alleged acts. The court heard that Cameron’s son Rhys, who had learning difficulties and mobility issues and had been born prematurely, was found dead at the family home in Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, on 15 September.
Prosecutor David Lamb KC told the court that Cameron repeatedly gave Rhys blackcurrant juice to drink from a pink Hello Kitty bottle, preparing the drink in the kitchen while he was in the front room and encouraging him to drink it even when he had not asked for it. “Louise Cameron gave Rhys this drink about five or six times and she kept refilling it,” Lamb said. “Rhys was telling his mother that he did not want it and that it did not taste good and he pushed it away. The prosecution’s case is that it was at this point that Louise Cameron was poisoning her son.”
Concerned relatives arrived at the home at around 10am, finding Cameron groggy and Rhys lying unconscious in bed beside her. The relatives quickly realised the boy was dead, with Cameron “stroking her son’s face and staring off into space.” Paramedics confirmed it was “obvious” Rhys had been dead “for some time.”
A note left by Cameron confirmed she had given Rhys a combination of her prescription medication — which a pathologist later concluded was the cause of his death — and that she had also taken an overdose herself. The letter stated she was “not dying without” her son. Cameron later told police she “did not want to leave him behind” and asked officers: “I’ve just murdered Rhys haven’t I?” She also said she had chosen to poison her son as she believed it would be a “relatively painless” method. Cameron was a single mother who had been in contact with social services. The trial continues.
