A MOTHER facing a charge of manslaughter over her baby son's drug-related death cried as jurors heard about attempts to save her child's life.

Jaquietta Bowyer, 39, was visibly distressed in the dock at Winchester Crown Court as doctors and paramedics gave evidence about the night 22-month-old Jacksa Bowyer died from a lethal dose of methadone on June 5, last year.

The jurors heard how Bowyer cried out: "Oh no, what have I done!" as paramedics battled to save her son's life.

The trial was told Bowyer's husband, Luke Bowyer, 27, called 999 just before 2am on June 5, telling the operator: "I have phoned you for my baby. He's dead. We ain't done nothing."

Paramedics arrived in Berewyn Close, Buckskin, to discover Jacksa - who had been taken to a neighbour's house - lying on the floor, surrounded by family and friends. His lips were blue, he was not breathing and they could not feel any pulse.

Paramedic Samantha Holland said she heard Bowyer talking to her husband outside Basingstoke hospital, shortly after the ambulance arrived there.

"She said: 'Oh no, what have I done?'," said Ms Holland. Jacksa was pronounced dead at 2.50am.

As well as Jaquietta Bowyer, Luke Bowyer and Jaquietta's daughter, Claire Gormley, are also accused of manslaughter.

All three are alleged to have neglected to get help for Jacksa after he had taken the lethal methadone dose.

The couple - who no longer live at their former Buckskin address - and Gormley, who now lives in Buttermere Drive, Warndon, Worcester, all plead not guilty.

The court has heard from Michelle and Steven Ayres, who said they spoke to members of the Bowyer family in the days after the baby died. Mrs Ayres said Gormley, now 19, approached her to talk.

"She said: 'They think it's cot death, but he died of methadone,'" said Mrs Ayres, adding that Gormley said Jacksa had put his finger in a bottle of methadone and put it in his mouth, but her mum would not take him to hospital because she did not want social services to get involved.

"She said he was probably dying all day," said Mrs Ayres.

Mr Ayres told the court he had spoken to both Jaquietta and Luke Bowyer, who were arrested following Jacksa's death, after they were released from custody.

In a statement to police, he said: "Jaqui stated that Luke had taken a swig from a methadone bottle and then thrown it away. I told Jaqui that we had spoken to Claire, and told her what Claire had told us, and Jaqui responded by saying, 'Oh yeah, she's only been trying to stitch us up'."

The jury heard that in police interviews, Jaquietta Bowyer broke down in tears several times and said: "I didn't hurt my baby. I didn't hurt my baby. I really didn't. I really didn't."

At the start of the first interview, the jury heard she told officers: "I can't give you an explanation as to Jack's death," and described how she and the baby had gone to bed at about 6pm.

At about midnight, Bowyer said she tried to feed him but he would not take it. When she went to feed him about two hours later, he was floppy. She said that when she tried to wake her son, she got no response.

Bowyer told police that she ran into the street shouting for help, and an ambulance was called.

In the interviews, Bowyer described how her husband had found a bottle of methadone in the street outside their home and said he had emptied it and thrown the bottle away.

Later, when told traces of methadone had been found in her dead son, she said she could offer no explanation for that.

Speaking about her child, she said: "He was not ill, he was not sick, he was not anything. He just went to sleep."

In tears, Bowyer later told officers: "I should have known there was something wrong with him." She subsequently added: "If I had known he had drunk anything, I would have taken him straight to the hospital - honest to God, I really would."

The trial continues.