‘Rapid review’ launched after 2-year-old boy found starved to death next to dad’s body

The deaths are not being treated as suspicious

On January 9, Bronson Battersby was found dead on the floor next to the body of his 60-year-old dad Kenneth Battersby.

The father had suffered a heart attack at some point between Christmas and New Year at their home in Skegness, leaving Bronson on his own with no food or water.

The father and son were known to children's services and a home visit had been scheduled for January 2.

When the social worker didn't get an answer at the door, she rang the police and tried to get more information from neighbours.

After two days without a response from Battersby and another attempt to visit the home on January 4, she called the authorities again. Five days later, after another visit with no response, the social worker contacted the property's landlady, Maria Clifton-Plaice, so that they could gain access to the property.

Lincolnshire County Council has launched an inquiry into the their deaths and has said it will carry out a "rapid review" of various agencies in the area following the tragic deaths, the BBC reports.

The council's executive director of children's services, Heather Sandy, told BBC Radio 4's World at One the deaths were "devastating."

She said: "It is a tragedy that Kenneth died of a heart attack.

"He was at home on his own with Bronson and that meant that there was nobody left to give Bronson care, and sadly as a result of that, Bronson has also passed away."

She added: "This is absolutely devastating for us and very much more devastating for the family, and our thoughts are with them."

Sandy told BBC Look North the counci's review would be completed within around 15 days and the findings would be passed to a national panel to make a decision on the next steps.

She explained: "We'd normally be visiting the families at monthly or less intervals, so in terms of that timeline between the 4th and the 9th, that will be the subject of a rapid review.

"What's really important is that we understand fully what has happened, so the rapid review will allow all of those agencies to come together and to look at what has happened."

"Nobody had anticipated that Kenneth was going to be poorly and die and so actually there is a significant amount of tragedy within this case."

Meanwhile, Lincolnshire Police has referred itself to police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

A spokesperson stated: "The exact actions of organisations involved will be analysed in a forthcoming review and at this stage it would be inappropriate to comment further.

"As part of standard procedures we have referred this to the IOPC as a result of a death or serious injury following police involvement."

The force has said it is not treating the deaths as suspicious.

Landlady Clifton-Plaice said discovering Bronson and Kenneth's bodies was one of the "worst [days] of my life."

Although she said she did not known Bronson well, she added: "I know he'd come and started staying with Kenny recently and he was just probably the light of his dad's eye.

"He was, I think, Kenny's chance to be a good dad."