A TRAGIC two-year-old boy who starved to death next to his dad’s body is the latest in a long line of children failed by the authorities.
Bronson Battersby was found beside Kenneth, 60, after the dad suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after Boxing Day.
Tragically, the toddler was under the care of children’s services but the pair were only found two weeks after they were last seen.
An urgent review has been launched by Lincolnshire County Council following the horror.
Here are the faces of just some of the children failed by the authorities when they most needed them.
Bronson Battersby
The two-year-old was found found curled up at the legs of his father by social services a fortnight after he and his dad were last seen.
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Bronson had been classified as vulnerable by social services, which meant he received weekly visits.
On January 2, a social worker visited his home in Skegness, Lincolnshire, but nobody answered the door so they alerted the police.
They tried again two days later but contacted officers for a second time after getting no answer.
Eventually – after five more days – the social worker got a key from Kenneth’s landlord and made the horrific discovery.
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Bronson’s mum Sarah Piesse said her son would still be alive “if social services had done their job”.
She added: “We have to be able to rely on social workers to keep our children safe.”
The pair were last seen alive on Boxing Day before Kenneth died of a heart attack soon after.
This means Bronson was left in the dark with no food or water and unable to get help.
Heather Sandy, executive director for children’s services, said: “This was a tragic incident, and we are supporting the family at this difficult time.
“We are carrying out a review of the case alongside partner agencies to better understand the circumstances, and we await the results of the coroner’s investigations as well.
“Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those involved.”
Baby P
Arguably one of the notorious child abuse deaths, Peter Connelly died in London in 2007 aged just 17 months old after suffering more than 50 injuries.
During an eight-month campaign of cruelty, he was seen 60 times by healthcare professionals and social workers.
His killing sparked outrage after it was revealed he lived in Haringey, North London, under the same child protection agencies as Victoria Climbie.
Peter’s nightmare began when mum Tracey Connelly invited her new boyfriend Steven Barker to move in during November 2006.
Just months later, a GP noticed bruises on his face and chest and the youngster was placed in the care of a family friend.
The brief break from his abusers ended in January 2007 when he returned home and was later admitted to hospital on two occasions.
Connelly was arrested after medics found Peter was suffering from injuries including two black eyes and swelling on the side of the head.
Despite her arrest, Peter’s ordeal was worsened when Barker’s brother, Jason Owen, moved into the home with a 15-year-old girl.
Social workers visited the house but his evil attackers smeared his face with chocolate to hide his bruises.
On August 3, 2007, Baby P was found dead in his bloodstained cot – just one day after police told Connelly she would not be prosecuted.
A post mortem later revealed he had swallowed a tooth after being punched, was missing fingernails and was suffering from a broken back.
Owen and Barker were convicted causing or allowing the death of a child, which Connelly had earlier pleaded guilty to.
Poppi Worthington
The 13-month-old died after being found with serious injuries at her home Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
Poppi’s dad Paul Worthington has avoided prosecution for his daughter’s death three times – despite a coroner ruling he sexually assaulted her.
A sickening catalogue of abuse suffered by Poppi in her short life included horrific internal injuries, a broken leg, “significant” bleeding “caused by penetration and bruises to her throat.
In January 2018, a coroner ruled that she was sexually assaulted before suffocating on a double bed.
The tot’s DNA was found on her dad’s genitals, but a flawed police investigation failed to place him under arrest for eight months.
Poppi’s heartbroken mum wept as she revealed she heard her daughter scream out on the night of her death.
Moments later, Worthington ran down the stairs with the lifeless tot in his arms after she suffered “significant” bleeding.
But key clues were chucked in the bin as a police investigation got underway – including the blood-soaked nappy Poppi was wearing.
Even the bed where the youngster spent her final minutes was not preserved by the cops, who had failed to find her pyjama bottoms and blanket.
The series of failures by Cumbria Police mean no one has ever been prosecuted over Poppi’s sexual abuse or death.
High Court family judges ruled in both 2014 and 2016 that Poppi was abused by her dad shortly before her death.
But the CPS said in 2018 that Worthington would not face any legal action and there would be no fourth review of the case.
During the inquest verdict, the court was told that only Poppi’s dad knew what happened before her death but he had declined to shed light during questioning – refusing to answer 252 statements put to him.
Worthington denies any wrongdoing and is now living in hiding with the help of police protection.
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes
Tragic Arthur, six, was tortured to death by his dad Thomas Hughes and stepmum Emma Tustin after months of horrific abuse.
The evil couple waged a sick “campaign of cruelty” against Arthur in his tragic final months.
He was segregated for 14 hours a day and forced to sleep on the floor in a brutal struggle that matched the “medical definition of child torture”.
Arthur was also poisoned with so much salt he was too weak to even put up a fight against his torturers’ horrific abuse.
On June 16, 2020, Tustin repeatedly smashed the youngster’s head against a hard surface causing him to collapse.
He died in hospital the next day from a “head trauma inflicted on him by an adult” consistent with being “vigorously shaken and his head banged repeatedly against a hard surface”.
Arthur’s frail and skeletal body was covered with 130 bruises and he suffered 93 different areas of injury – including on his head, arms, legs, feet and torso.
Chillingly, Arthur’s final months on earth were captured in harrowing audio clips and recordings made by Tustin and Hughes.
Arthur could be heard wailing in one 23-second recording “no one loves me” and “no one is going to feed me”.
Shockingly, the couple’s months of abuse slipped under the net after Hughes and Tustin used lockdown to pull the wool over the eyes of the authorities.
Family who raised their concerns with social workers and police were ignored and even threatened with arrest.
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Tustin, 32, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 29 years, while Hughes’ sentence was increased to 24 years in prison.
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Holly Christodoulou
