Mother of 2-year-old boy who starved to death said he was ‘two inches too small to reach the fridge’
The mother of two-year-old toddler Bronson Battersby - who starved to death after his father died of a heart attack - has spoken out about her harrowing loss.
The toddler's lifeless body was discovered at his father Kenneth's home in Skegness, Lincolnshire, on the 9 January.
Kenneth, 60, was also found deceased in the property, with a post-mortem examination later revealing that he'd suffered a heart attack.
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As a result, his son Bronson has died of starvation and dehydration, after being unable to fend for himself, and was found 'curled up' at his father's feet.
Their bodies were discovered by a social worker, who had attempted to visit the property a week earlier, but was met with silence upon knocking at the door.
Having alerted the police, a social worker visited the property in the days that followed but received no response, contacting the authorities each time.
It wasn't until 9 January that she was able to receive a key from the landlord and entered the property to make her harrowing discovery.
Following the tragic deaths, a review was yesterday launched by officials, after Bronson's mother accused both Lincolnshire police and the children's services of missing numerous opportunities to save the little boy's life.
Opening up to The Sun today, Sarah Piesse, 43, explained that her ex partner Kenneth had recently moved the snacks inside the house higher up and out of reach for his son, in the hope of teaching him to ask for food when he wanted it.
"Now all I can think of in my head is him, starving, reaching up and trying to get them," the devastated mother told the publication. "I can't bear it. He was about two inches off being able to reach the fridge to open it.
"And Kenny was there on the floor. I can only pray he thought his dad was asleep."
Remembering what her little boy was like, she continued: "A typical, cheeky, little two-year-old. 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!’.
"It is haunting me. If I can fall asleep at all, it is only for a few hours. I jolt awake thinking of him wandering around alone, starving."
Sarah went on: "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.”
Sarah, 43 - who last saw her son just before Christmas - also told press this week: "If social services had done their job Bronson would still be alive.
"But they didn’t do anything. They can’t let them get away with this. We have to be able to rely on social workers to keep our children safe."
She went on: "They think Kenneth died no earlier than December 29. It means if the social worker had pushed to get in when she got no reply on January 2 then Bronson would still have been alive."
Police minister Chris Philp also said today that 'questions need to be answered' over the toddler's death, telling BBC Breakfast viewers that there an investigation into the social services aspect of the incident, and another being conducted by the IOPC into the policing side.
Speaking to Times Radio, he went on: "As a father myself I can't think of anything worse than a little boy, just a couple of years, suffering in that way.
"I'm concerned about this whole episode. I think it does need, and think it is being, investigated to understand exactly what happened."
Philp continued: "He was on the social services' radar, it wasn't as if this was completely new to the authorities, the family was known to social services and obviously was on their list of people to check up on to start with.
"So I am concerned about it and I think it should be investigated thoroughly."
Rhianna Benson