A mother is facing up to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of child cruelty over the death of her three-year-old son who was allegedly crushed by a car seat.

Alfie Lamb died three days later in hospital having suffered catastrophic brain damage as a result of the incident last February.

His mother Adrian Hoare, 23, cried in the dock as the guilty verdict was read out at the Old Bailey today.

She has been convicted of the lesser charge but has been cleared of manslaughter.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the manslaughter charge facing her partner Stephen Waterson, 25, who had been accused of deliberately shoving the passenger seat of the Audi A4 into Alfie until he went "ominously quiet".

He has been found guilty of intimidating a witness but it is unclear if he will face a retrial over the more serious accusation.

Waterson and Hoare, a former Northfleet School for Girls pupil, who has lived in Gravesend and Chatham, were returning from a shopping trip with Alfie and friends Marcus Lamb and Emilie Williams before the incident last year.

Alfie, who was sat in the rear foot well between Hoare's legs, started to moan that he had too little room.

During the trial, which began last month, Mr Lamb said he heard Alfie cry out "mummy" and make choking noises, he also heard Hoare slap him and the couple both shout at him.

Alfie, weighing two-and-a-half stone, died of "crush asphyxia" after being hit by the seat which at peak would have exerted more than 12-and-a-half stone in pressure.

When paramedics arrived at the family home in Croydon they found Hoare, Miss Williams and Mr Lamb, who was carrying out CPR on Alfie but soon made himself scarce.

Waterson had dialled 999 but had fled before paramedics arrived. He quickly sold the Audi.

Hoare told them Alfie had been in a child seat in a taxi and had fallen asleep, when he got out he was unresponsive and the driver left, she claimed.

This would later turn out to be a lie.

The jury heard Hoare and Waterson both ignored pleas from Miss Williams to check on him during the car journey.

After the incident Waterson pulled Alfie out of the car and Hoare said to him "what have you done?", according to Mr Lamb.

Miss Williams, who later changed her original story about the taxi and said she had lied "out of loyalty" to Hoare, told the court she had urged her friends to check on Alfie after hearing choking noises.

Her concerns had been dismissed.

The court also heard Waterson used a false name when he visited Alfie in intensive care.

Before the machines keeping Alfie alive were shut off, Hoare asked Waterson to come but he did not come back to hospital again.

Then, 11 days after Alfie's death, Waterson sent text messages to Hoare saying he would take the blame for everything.

The court heard after the text Hoare gave a different account of what happened.

And in a prepared statement relating to Alfie, Waterson said “he loved children, and would not deliberately harm a child".

Waterson and Hoare admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice by making false witness statements to the police in the wake of the death.

Speaking after the verdict, detective chief inspector, Simon Harding, said Hoare continuously lied to police in a bid to escape responsibility for her actions.

"Even with her son fighting for his life in intensive care, Hoare showed little or no concern for Alfie and focussed her energies on maintaining contact with her partner," he said.

"The investigation into Alfie's death has been one of the most distressful some of my officers have been involved in."

Waterson and Hoare, both now of Adams Way, Croydon, admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice by making false witness statements to the police in the wake of the death.

Williams, 19, of Adams Way, Croydon, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Speaking after the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding said Hoare continuously lied to police in a bid to escape responsibility for her actions.

She had also "utterly failed in her duty to protect her child".

He added: “Even with her son fighting for his life in intensive care, Hoare showed little or no concern for Alfie and focussed her energies on maintaining contact with her partner.

"The investigation into Alfie's death has been one of the most distressful some of my officers have been involved in."

Hoare will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Monday, March 4.