Flat where father and starved toddler found burgled after deaths

BURGLARS broke into the flat where a two-year-old boy was found starved to death next to his father’s body, police have said.

Bronson Battersby and his father, Kenneth, 60, were found dead on Jan 9 in the basement of their flat in Skegness, Lincolnshire, two weeks after they had last been seen.

The father is thought to have suffered a heart attack, according to neighbours.

Lincolnshire Police has now revealed that a break-in occurred between Jan 10 and 12.

Mr Battersby’s landlady, Maria Clifton-Plaice, said she believed his painkillers and wallet had been taken.

“I looked in the cupboard where Kenny would keep a wallet with his rent money in and it had gone,” she told the his tramadol medication. They’d left the packaging but the pills themselves had vanished.

“It makes you despair, really. How low can people stoop?”

Police said it is believed the offenders used a bedroom window to gain entry and that its investigation is ongoing.

It comes as the sister of the two-yearold said she does not blame social services for his death.

Melanie Battersby said she believed

“social services and the police did what they could within the powers they had”.

Lincolnshire county council said that a social worker called on the property for a scheduled visit on Jan 2 but after receiving no response she spoke with her manager and police. The social worker returned two days later and again on Jan 9, then alerted Ms CliftonPlaice and gained entry.

Ms Battersby, 37, told BBC Radio 4: “I don’t place any blame at all on them. I believe that social services and the police did what they could within the powers that they had and the information that they were given.

“I’m glad that an inquiry is going to take place into whether there were any failings, missed opportunities. I’m really glad that is going to take place.”

She added: “It must be devastating for them to work in that profession, to have to deal with tragedies like this.”

The council has launched a rapid review into the deaths and Lincolnshire Police has referred itself to the independent watchdog. The national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel will then have 15 days to take a decision on the next steps.

It is believed Mr Battersby died about a week before the bodies were discovered and that Bronson, who was classified as vulnerable by social services, meaning he received monthly visits, survived for a further two to three days.