A 2-year-old English boy was found starved to death next to the body of his father, who had suffered a fatal heart attack two weeks earlier.
Little Bronson Battersby was found dead curled up next to his 60-year-old father, Kenneth, at their home in Skegness, Lincolnshire, on Jan. 9 — 14 days after they were last seen by family over the holidays.
The pair were last seen alive on Dec. 26 — not long before Kenneth suffered a fatal heart attack, ultimately leaving his son alone with no one to care for him.
Even though a social worker made several attempts to visit the family’s home, and contacted the police when no one answered the door, Bronson’s mom, Sarah Piesse, 43, said more should have been done.
“We have to be able to rely on social workers to keep our children safe,” she told the Sun
“They think Kenneth died no earlier than Dec. 29. It means if the social worker had pushed to get in when she got no reply on Jan. 2, then Bronson would still have been alive,” the grieving mother added.
The social worker visited their home on Jan. 2 after failing to make contact with the father on Dec. 27. She returned to the house two days later but was still unable to reach Kenneth.
The social worker contacted the cops after each visit but was only able to enter the home after getting a key from the landlord days later, their family told the outlet.
Authorities in Lincolnshire have since launched a review into the child’s death.
Bronson’s heartbroken mom shared how she was unable to hold him when she went to identify him because he was too fragile.
“I couldn’t pick him up because his body was too fragile,” she said through tears. “I could only touch him. He had been left there too long.”
The results of the postmortem examination found that Bronson died of dehydration and starvation, his mother said.
A family friend said Bronson loved cartoons, “Cocomelon,” nursery rhymes and playing with his drum kit.
“It breaks my heart. Bronson deserved so, so much better. He was such a loving, adorable little boy. They found him curled up at Kenneth’s legs,” the friend said. “He was left in the dark and must have been terrified and so confused.”
The boy’s father was unemployed and had a heart condition that led him to become severely jaundiced in the months leading up to his death.
