A two-year-old boy who sadly passed away due to starvation was found dead beside his father's body who had suffered a fatal heart attack.
The tragedy unfolded in Skegness in the UK, at the home of two-year-old Bronson Battersby and 60-year-old Kenneth Battersby.
The Lincolnshire County Council has launched a review into the circumstances surrounding Bronson's death. Classified as vulnerable, the toddler was subject to regular checks by children's services, occurring at least once a month," per the Guardian.
A timeline of events before the pair were discovered was reported by Sky News, which revealed that it was known that they were together on Christmas Day.
Speaking to The Sun, Bronson's mom, Sarah Piesse said the pair had "a big Christmas dinner together" and "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," she added.
Bronson had been living with Battersby for six months after his parents separated because Piesse moved into a new flat with a high staircase without a banister that was unsafe for the two-year-old, she said.
The father and son were seen together on boxing day, and Battersby was responding to texts prior to New Year's Eve.
On January 2, the social worker visited the house as planned, but received no answer. She contacted the police and checked other houses for Bronson.
Bronson's mom, who last saw him before Christmas, said the autopsy results showed "Bronson starved to death because his dad died".
"They think Kenneth died no earlier than December 29," she said.
"It means if the social worker had pushed to get in when she got no reply on 2 January then Bronson would still have been alive."
Heather Sandy, executive director for children's services at Lincolnshire County Council, told ITV News: "Social workers are not allowed to force entry into properties, that would be unlawful, so that wouldn't be something we could do. We would contact the police."
The social worker contacted the police at this point and then made inquiries at other addresses, Lincolnshire County Council said.
The social worker was given access to the property by the landlord, and discovered the bodies of the father and son. She alerted the police, who said they arrived at around 3:25PM
In a statement following the discovery, police said the deaths were not being treated as suspicious.
Piesse told The Sun: "My first question was, 'Where the hell is my boy then? Who has my boy?' 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 the police put me in the back of an ambulance at the scene.
"They told me a two-year-old boy was found at the scene and they were doing a post-mortem. My whole world fell apart. I was screaming, 'How? How?'"
Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragedy.
