Baby Sam Back would be alive today if social services had not closed his case, according to the baby's great-aunt.

Wynn Gardhouse, of Cairo Avenue, Peacehaven, said social workers should have kept one-year-old Sam Back's case open despite his mother Emma Back's refusal of help.

Back, 22, of Park Road, Bexhill, was found guilty of wilful neglect and conspiracy to prevent a burial at Lewes Crown Court yesterday.

Her drug addict boyfriend, 27-year-old Aaron Goodman, was jailed for life for Sam's murder.

Goodman hit him so hard his bowel ruptured and his tiny body was left in his cot for more than two weeks next to a blood-splattered Winnie the Pooh poster.

His corpse was only discovered when his grandparents became suspicious no funeral arrangements had been made and alerted police.

Yesterday, Mrs Gardhouse said the family was relieved they could finally bury Sam.

She said: "The judge said the body could be released. Emma's mother, Brenda wants a church service and I think he will be buried in the same churchyard as my husband in Piddinghoe.

"I am sure Sam would still be here today if social services had pursued the case."

Social Services at East Sussex County Council claimed "at no time was Sam considered to be in danger during his short life".

Social workers had made regular visits to Back and Sam at the flat they shared with Goodman, in Church Road, St Leonards.

But in August 2000, the couple rejected their offers of help.

Four months later, Sam was dead with traces of cocaine in his blood and a bite mark on his leg.

A social services spokeswoman said: "There was no concern over the child's safety during his life.

"In July 2000, the police attended the house, following concerns from neighbours about an argument.

"The welfare of all present was ascertained and no injuries were found.

"The police notified social services, who were carrying out an assessment of need.

"No child protection concerns were found. The assessment found he was clean and well cared for and developing normally, although in need of interaction with other children."

She said a social work assistant was assigned to the family but they moved in August and did not ask for further support so the case was closed, although health visitors continued to be involved.

A spokesman for the Hastings and Rother NHS Trust denied health visitors had been aware of Goodman's crack cocaine habit.

The court heard during the two-week trial Back, who also took drugs, and Goodman had been more concerned about paying back a drug debt than organising Sam's burial.

Mrs Gardhouse said the family was relieved justice had been done.

She said: "It was just horrendous when we discovered what little Sam had been through. It has been extremely stressful."

Sentencing Goodman yesterday, Mrs Justice Anne Rafferty said he would have put the child through agony when he beat him to death.

She said: "He would have been, when his bowel ruptured, in excruciating pain. Please God he died instantly.

"And you left him to rot in a room for 18 days."

Mrs Gardhouse said the stress had led to Back's stepfather Raymond Kingshot having a heart attack last Monday. He was still recovering today in the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Back, who has been warned she faces a lengthy jail term, is to be sentenced on April 15.