A MOTHER accused of starving her daughter to death thought the girl was possessed by an evil spirit, a court has heard.

Angela Gordon claimed that Khyra Ishaq, seven, had “accepted it as a friend”, Birmingham Crown Court was told.

A 13-year-old boy in Gordon’s care said he had found Khyra asleep in her mother’s lap two days before her death last year.

He said Gordon told him Khyra dropped down as she walked after the spirit “got into her body”.

The boy told police he had been able see Khyra’s bones through her skin while she slept.

Gordon, 34, and her partner Junaid Abuhamza, 30, of Handsworth, Birmingham, deny murdering Khyra.

The trial continues.