Kimberley Hainey, the mother found guilty of murdering her son, forced the toddler to live in squalor, pictures released on Wednesday revealed.
Declan Hainey's body was found at the family home in 2010 but experts said he had been dead for several months. The images, released by prosecutors, show the flat overflowing with debris and waste. Mouldy milk bottles and empty food packets litter the floor, punctuated only by soft toys and children's clothes. An abandoned buggy stands redundant in a corner, surrounded by old towels and plastic bags.
One picture shows a travel cot or playpen filled with empty plastic bottles, while another shows a sofa obscured by an old duvet and cans.
The incident was described as "harrowing and distressing" by police officers, after the toddler's corpse was discovered at the flat on 30 March. When he was found, he would have been nearly two. The cause of Declan's death is still unknown but reports suggest he was last seen alive when he was 15 months old.
The 37-year-old mother pretended her son was being cared for by family members, or that he was at nursery, leading people to believe he was still alive. Following a trial at Glasgow's High Court, she was found guilty of murder by a majority verdict. She was also convicted of failing to report Declan's death and concealing his body at her flat, as well as wilfully ill-treating, neglecting and abandoning the toddler.
Hainey, from Paisley, Renfrewshire, left her son alone for "excessive" periods of time and failed to provide him with adequate nourishment and fluids.
After the guilty verdict was announced last month, Strathclyde Police Detective Inspector Maxine Martin said: "Declan Hainey's murder was a horrible, tragic case.
"I doubt that anyone involved in the investigation or anyone who heard or read anything about the circumstances through the media will have come across anything quite as harrowing or distressing as this.
"You cannot begin to comprehend Declan's suffering, nor can you begin to understand how a mother could have done this to their innocent, helpless child.
"There was one person and one person alone responsible for Declan's murder and that was Kim (Kimberley) Hainey. She deceived everyone who was close to her.
"She went out of her way to conceal what she did from her friends, her family and from the various agencies who wanted only to help her."
The Crown is considering whether a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) should be held into his death.