UK: Mother, boyfriend jailed after 4-yr-old dies of heart attack from drug use

Lowgate: 38-year-old Michala Pyke, a woman from Lowgate in the United Kingdom (UK) and her drug dealer boyfriend John Rytting administered a cocktail of drugs to Pyke’s 4-year-old daughter Poppy Widdison, eventually causing her to die of a heart attack.

According to mirror.co.uk, the couple have been awarded 13 years in prison by a local court for the crime, which took place in 2013.

Pyke and Rytting murdered the girl since she was being an 'inconvenience' to their relationship.

Toxicology reports said that the girl had significant amount of methadone for a period between 2 to 6 months before her death.

While sentencing, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, told Pyke, "You are a malevolent and manipulative woman who finds it easy to lie and deceive. You are utterly unfit to be a mother."

When her boyfriend, Rytting was sentenced, he responded saying, "Whatever."

Defendant attorney Katherine Goddard said Pyke had the realisation that she was responsible for her daughter's death, at least "morally".

Claiming that her client is "a damaged and troubled individual", Goddard said, "Until Michala Pyke began the relationship with John Rytting, however difficult life was, Poppy was generally well cared for and those in positions of authority and responsibility were content with the levels of care she received."

"But it was at the start of that relationship, a relationship that was toxic in every sense of the word, which brought out the worst in Michala Pyke."

Rytting's attorney Timothy Robert QC, said, "Michala Pyke had primary caring responsibility for her daughter and it's not without significance that the scientific evidence indicated that, over a six-month period, there had been an ingestion of prescribed drugs."

Pyke and Rytting were awarded 13 years in prison on charges of child cruelty for keeping Poppy in a house where controlled drugs were within the reaches of the child and for making her consume prescription and/or controlled substances.

Rytting was also charged with possession of cannabis with intent to distribute.