A distraught mother fought back tears as she admitted killing her 13-year-old son.

Lesley Wessell, 42, drugged and suffocated Alex Wessell at the family home in Mayfield Close, Findon Valley, last September.

Mrs Wessell denied murder but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility during a brief hearing at Lewes Crown Court yesterday.

Her plea was accepted and Judge Richard Brown remanded her in custody for pre-sentence reports. She will be sentenced next month.

Police were called to the Wessells' semi-detached home after being alerted by solicitors who had been sent a letter which concerned them.

Officers found the dead youth with a pillow over his head lying next to his mother on a double bed covered by a quilt.

Blonde-haired Mrs Wessell, wearing just a dressing gown, had a plastic bag over her head and two bags tied around her neck.

She told police she had given her son Temazepam and when he became drowsy she suffocated him.

She said she had also wanted to die and had taken the same drug.

Alex was a pupil at St Andrew's High School in Worthing.