Neighbour, 33, admits killing girl, 11, with poisonous gas used to kill bed bugs

A woman has admitted killing an 11-year-old girl after scattering chemicals around her home in a bid to eradicate bedbugs.

Fatiha Sabrin was overcome by toxic fumes when a poisonous gas drifted into her home from a downstairs property where her neighbour Jesmin Akter, 33, was spreading chemical pellets to tackle an infestation of bed bugs.

Moisture in the air activated the dangerous gas phosphine from the aluminium phosphide pellets which travelled to the apartment above Akter's flat poisoning the schoolgirl who went into cardiac arrest on November 26, 2021.

She died shortly afterwards in hospital on December 11, just a day after her 11th birthday.

Akter evacuated her family from the block of flats in Shadwell, east London, who escaped serious injury in the incident.

Fatiha Sabrin (pictured) was overcome by toxic fumes when a poisonous gas drifted into her home from a downstairs property 

Now the defendant at the centre of the extraordinary poisoning case has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

She is said to have put down three times the prescribed amount of pellets to deal with bedbugs, distributing them on the floor and on the top of cabinets in her determination to get rid of the problem said to be rife in the block of flats.

The chemicals designed for pest control on farmland to protect crops are a regulated substance in the UK, which requires a license to possess and use it.

Akter admitted manslaughter when she appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday.

But she denied a further charge of importing a regulated substance, namely aluminium phosphide, from Italy without a licence.

Judge Alexia Durran told the defendant that she may still face a trial on the importation charge: 'Prosecution lawyers will tell your lawyers by Thursday 16 May if there needs to be a trial or not.' She released Akter on bail ahead of a further hearing on 20 May.

Weeks after she died, it emerged that the victim's autobiographical poem had been recognised by judges of a national writing competition.

Jesmin Akter, 33, pictured at the Old bailey, had been spreading chemical pellets to tackle an infestation of bed bugs.

Nishat Tasnim Disha, Fatiha's mother's cousin, known to Fatiha as an aunt, said Fatiha had dreamed of becoming a doctor.

She said: 'Fatiha was such a brilliant and happy child, exceptionally kind and always curious to learn.

'I don't have words to say for such a tragic loss.' It is thought to be only the third death relating to chemicals to tackle bedbugs.

In 2018, a British couple died in Egypt from carbon monoxide poisoning after the next-door hotel room was sprayed with pesticide to kill bedbugs.

John Cooper and Susan Cooper, from Lancashire, fell ill while on a family holiday in Hurghada after the next-door room was fumigated following a report of an infestation.