Mother admits killing autistic son by making him drink bleach

A mother in Britain who made her 12-year-old autistic son drink a cup of bleach because she feared social services would take him away pleaded guilty to manslaughter today.

Satpal Kaur Singh, 44, killed her son Ajit just hours after she refused to cooperate with council staff at a meeting over his care.

But she had appeared “calm” and no one else who attended had “any concerns about her immediate behaviour”, the Old Bailey heard.

Hours later she rang police to say: “I’ve just murdered my son and I’ve tried to kill myself.”

The court heard that social workers at Barking and Dagenham Council had concerns about Singh in the months before she killed her son on February 9 this year.

Singh, of Lambourne Road, Barking, east London, denied murder but today pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

Prosecutors accepted the plea after psychiatrists assessed that she was suffering a mental disorder.

Singh was remanded in custody to be sentenced on December 13.