Tragic details have emerged after a two-year-old boy was found dead next to the body of his father.
Bronson Battersby from Skegness, Lincolnshire was found starved to death after being left for days next to the body of his dead father, Kenneth.
It was reported that the 60-year-old had suffered a heart attack shortly after Boxing Day, the last day he and his child were seen alive by a neighbor, which left Bronson without a caregiver to look after him.
Speaking to The Sun, Bronson’s mom, Sarah Piesse, opened up about the loss of her "gorgeous boy," stating that she is kept awake by the "haunting" vision of him scrambling about for food and water.
"I know the two of them had a big Christmas dinner together," she said. "They had all the trimmings and chicken instead of turkey, because Bronson liked chicken. All the food would have still been in the fridge. If only Bronson was a little bit taller, then he would have survived. The fridge would have been packed with Christmas leftovers."
The heartbroken mom revealed that he would have been approximately two inches too short to reach the handle of the fridge where all the food was stored.
"A typical, cheeky, little two-year-old," Sarah recalled the qualities of her son. "He was always trying to get his favourite pink wafers. And then when we said no more, he’d smile and shout, 'Yeah! More, more, more!' Kenny moved all the snacks higher up so he couldn’t get to them without asking.
She continued: "Now all I can think of in my head is him, starving, reaching up and trying to get them. I can’t bear it. He was about two inches off being able to reach the fridge to open it."
The grieving mother then added: "His last moments were spent alone and he must have been so thirsty and hungry. He will have been crying. He will have been so confused. And Kenny was there on the floor. I can only pray he thought his dad was asleep."
Sarah revealed that the fact that she was not able to save her son haunts her every single day.
"It is haunting me," she told the outlet. "If I can fall asleep at all, it is only for a few hours. I jolt awake thinking of him wandering around alone, starving. He must have been so weak in the end that he decided to give up and hold on to his dad, hugging his legs."
"I will never forgive myself for not being there. When I picture him alone in that flat it makes me feel like a failure, cruel, selfish. That little boy was sitting there wanting a drink, wanting something to eat. It breaks my heart even more," she added.
The Independent reported that social services spoke with Kenneth on December 27 in order to organize a visit to the home just after New Year's Day.
After receiving no response, the council said the social worker contacted police and later made an unannounced visit to the home and when they received no word, they contacted the police again.
Despite there allegedly being two complaints made to the authorities, it wasn't until January 7, five days after the initial report, that the social worker gained access to the property via the landlord and the two bodies were discovered shortly after.
Upon hearing the details, Sarah wondered why more wasn't done to save her little one, pointing her finger at the local authorities.
"I got down there as fast as I could. I was there in 10 minutes flat. I ran down the road screaming Bronson’s name. I screamed for him, knowing he’d need me. I was scared about what he might have seen with his dad passing away.
But when the officers "put me in the back of an ambulance" she was even more nervous than before. That's when she was told that her son had also passed away due to starvation.
"My whole world fell apart. I was screaming, 'How? How?' I knew there was no way that Kenny would let anything happen to Bronson. He would never lay a finger on him," she continued. "I just don’t understand why the alarm wasn’t raised sooner. Why didn’t they do it? I am in a living nightmare and I am never going to wake up from it."
Our thoughts are with Sarah and her loved ones during this difficult time.
