Horror as ‘gorgeous’ toddler Bronson Battersby ‘left to die of starvation’ next to his dead father
by Gold_Work_3474
Horror as ‘gorgeous’ toddler Bronson Battersby ‘left to die of starvation’ next to his dead father
by Gold_Work_3474
35 comments
Love how the grotty mother is trying to divert blame.
Depressing looking at her profile, they both look like smackheads, the house is an absolute shit tip. Poor kid never stood a chance.
“We have to be able to rely on social workers to keep our children safe.” No love, that’s your job as his mother.
I’m sorry but, even in that picture that thy chose to publish on their own social media, the child is grubby. Frankly, we need more robust social services in this country. In the current social services culture and funding, that social worker did everything right. She made repeated visits, made alternative investigations, reported to supporting services and then secured a key herself. You’d think that, when a child is logged as requiring social services involvement, if they don’t answer the door to a pre-arranged visit, that you’d get the police out and get in their fast. In reality, it’s very commonplace to not answer because they forgot and went out, they can’t be bothered, they’re hungover, the child is in a bad mood, the parent hasn’t done the kitchen and it’s a mess… if they broke down the door on those occasions then more than 99% of the time, they’d be dealing with a deluge of complaints about overzealous enforcement.
We need to make protecting children a priority. If you don’t open the door, it will be opened for you. Too many children are dying where they could’ve been saved if facilitating social services had been prioritised. If people want to mess around then child safety then they need to find out how seriously we, as a society, take it.
The social worker informed the police twice so I don’t see how she is to blame at all. So far as I’m aware she wouldn’t have any powers to enter to a property.
The social worker notified the police on two occasions. Where were they? Sounds like the social worker actually did everything they could tbh.
The poor little baby, his last hours must have been a living hell. Being completely alone, feeling not well but not understanding why, his father being “asleep”.
I’d have taken the kid straight off of them as soon as they registered his name. Poor lad never stood a chance.
Did they really choose to name their child after the notoriously violent prisoner, Charles Bronson?
Am I missing something here? Social worker notifies the police on 2nd Jan. They know the kid is in a vulnerable position, as is the parent. Why wasn’t a welfare check done by the police? What the fuck were they doing?
This is so horrendous but why wasn’t the mother checking in with her ex? If my kids went to stay with anyone else, I’d be texting them periodically and asking for a FaceTime to say goodnight.
That poor child, he must have been so terrified and he could so easily have been saved.
Absolutely broke my heart reading this. The pure pain, terror and confusion that the child must have experienced and it would have been ongoing for days. Him not being able to understand that his dad was dead either, honestly it’s such a horrible thing to think about.
I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.
Rest well Bronson, I’m sorry that the system failed you
Why did the police not force entry on the first call on the 2nd of January?
>A social worker went to visit the house on January 2, in one of the weekly visits Bronson received because he was classed as vulnerable, according to The Sun.
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>But there was no answer, so she made enquiries at other addresses and called police, according to Lincolnshire County Council.
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>The worker tried a second time on January 4, and called the police when there was again no response.
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>Five days later, she arranged a key from the property’s landlord and made the horrific discovery.
So it wasn’t even the police that eventually checked on the little lad, it was the social worker.
My friend had a leak from the upstairs flat over Christmas into theirs, and he spent days calling anyone who could possibly find out who the Landlord was, because the tenants were away, and the building manager had left over Christmas as well. It’s a tedious nightmare trying to get basic information like that when nobody wants to help.
Mum is 43, Dad is 60 and ill, both look like smack heads, child is dirty in his picture. What a poor baby, rest in peace.
Not sure why the social worker is catching heat for this when she went back multiple times and called the police for a welfare check.
Where was the mother? I appreciate that you might not contact the other parent every day but surely she would have asked how her little boy was at least once or twice in that timescale and been concerned when not getting an answer?
What I want to know is, why did it take *a week and a half* and at least two calls to the police before someone forced entry? There was a young child in the house and the father had a heart condition, surely that should have at least prompted a police welfare check the same day.
This is of course a tragedy.
And it raises interesting questions about how we deal with vulnerable people who are in the charge of somebody with poor health. Should there always be some kind of checking system to make sure they are indeed looked after?
With smaller nuclear families und some very private homes, this scenario plays out time and time again. Sometimes it is a toddler, sometimes it is a disabled person, sometimes it is someone elderly.
Sure, social workers could do this, but they need more resources, they need a system, they would need powers to enter the property if somebody is unexcused not responding. At the moment, they just get the blame, but not the means to address the problem.
I can’t believe she’s trying to blame the social worker. Sounds like she’s just after a payout.
I’m not sure what more could have been done by the social worker. She called the police twice.
It makes me wonder. The mother is blaming others, but how could she be able to leave her little son without checking for days/weeks, knowing her ex was vulnerable enough to need regular checking from social services.
This isn’t on the social worker at all. She did everything she could, the police dropped the ball twice. And I have to ask, how unfit is the mother if the child’s poorly father is the better option? My guess would be that she is angry with social services for taking the child from her custody.
Horrible story of course but like, what is this headline?!
I’ve seen some horrible stuff in my time but it’s stories like this that really turn my stomach and make me feel utter despair, absolutely horrific to think of this child’s final few days alone – and the child’s mother trying to throw social services under the bus, what a despicable creature she is.
An inquiry will happen, heads of welfare services will apologise, they’ll bleat on about improving things but I guarantee we’ll have another story in the next few weeks about a child being neglected or killed because our public services are so utterly dysfunctional.
This is one of the most appalling stories I’ve ever read, I think it’ll be up there with baby P as an infamous social services story. The worst part was this little boy curling up next to his Dad, presumably because he thought it was the safest place. Hard to imagine how scared and confused he must have been.
Feel physically sick after reading this. Poor mite. 😞
Poor baby must have been so scared, lonely and hungry. I’m sure “lessons will be learnt” as they are everytime the police fail to protect someone or social services drop the ball, but in reality nothing will change.
I really feel for the social worker who did her best here and is still being scapegoated as the one at fault here
Fucking hell this is bleak. I know the world is a grim place generally these days, but stories like this just kill me. Think I’m going to have to get blackout drunk tonight.
This story came on the radio and I just had to turn it off. The thought of it makes my brain nope it out.
Why did they feel the need to mention how ‘gorgeous’ the toddler was? Surely murdering a child is heinous anyway.
I don’t even know how to process this… Life can be so unnecessarily cruel. I am so sorry that nobody heard your cries baby boy. =(
What a horrendous scene for the social worker to walk in on. Seems strange to me that there was no bath level taps he could have used to get water, poor guy.
The mother should be absolutely ashamed. This is horrific.
Fucked up all around. Wish I hadn’t read this. RIP lad.
This is one of the most terrible things I’ve read in a long while.