Salt baby mother 'could not cope'

Marianne Williams denies murdering her son Joshua in 2004

A mother may have used table salt to poison her 16-month-old son because she "could not cope", a court has heard.

Marianne Williams' son Joshua was taken to hospital in 2004 in a seriously ill condition and died three days later.

Prosecutor Richard Smith QC told the court in Winchester that Ms Williams was on medication at the time and had admitted she had "had enough".

Ms Williams, aged 24, of Wiltshire, denies a charge of murder and an alternative of manslaughter.

'Salt overdose'

Mr Smith told the jury that tests showed the boy had very high levels of sodium in his body.

"That fatal condition did not occur, say the Crown, in any way naturally," he said.

"Rather, it was the result of Joshua having been given an excessive amount of sodium, most likely predominantly, but not exclusively, common table salt.

"Joshua had in effect been poisoned with a sodium, salt if you like, overdose.

"The evidence leads to a sad but inevitable conclusion that this defendant, Marianne Williams, administered that sodium to cause her son's death."

Joshua had medical problems and needed daily medication

The court heard how Ms Williams knew about the consequences of a salt overdose, as Joshua had been taken into hospital with high sodium levels in his blood less than a month before his death.

Ms Williams and Joshua's father, Paul Taylor, took their son home from hospital on 23 February.

Ms Williams was responsible for feeding him through a tube directly into his stomach or into his nose because he had difficulties eating normally.

Joshua was back in hospital one morning later and he died on 27 February 2004.

Small kidneys

The court heard that when Joshua was born he weighed only 2lb 10oz (1.2kg) and had a number of medical problems.

Mr Smith said: "Joshua needed intensive round-the-clock medical care as well as a substantial amount of daily medication to try to foster his survival and his growth."

The jury heard Joshua's very small kidneys meant he found it difficult to conserve enough sodium in his system.

He was medicated with sodium chloride almost every day to restore his body's natural balance, the court heard.

Mr Smith said Ms Williams had admitted to police she was unable to cope with Joshua's care.

He added that Ms Williams had said she felt she "couldn't cope, didn't want Joshua to come home, couldn't cope with his problems, had enough."

The case continues.