Lincolnshire County Council report into death of Bronson Battersby, 2, in Skegness is referred to national child safeguarding panel

An official review of a tragic case in which a two-year-old boy is believed to have starved to death has been referred to a national safeguarding panel.

Lincolnshire County Council has conducted a rapid review of its actions after the body of Bronson Battersby was found along with that of his father Kenneth at their home in Skegness last month.

Social workers say they contacted the force on two separate occasions in a bid to get access to the family’s home while Lincolnshire Police – which has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct – said it did respond.

This tragic case received national attention after appearing on the front page of The Sun, which reported that Bronson and Kenneth were last seen alive on Boxing Day and that an initial post mortem revealed that the youngster had died of dehydration and starvation. The 60-year-old is thought to have suffered a fatal heart attack.

Now the county council’s review has been referred to the national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, an independent body which works with the Department for Education.

On the panel’s website, it states that councils should notify the national review of:

- if a child dies or is seriously harmed and abuse or neglect is known or suspected in their area or outside of England

- to report the death of children looked after by a local authority whether or not abuse or neglect is known or suspected.

Chris Cook, independent chair of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership, said: “Lincolnshire’s safeguarding partners have submitted their rapid review to the national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.

“The panel will now schedule a meeting to consider our report and provide a written response to our analysis, conclusions and recommendations.

“Once received, the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership can consider sharing further information on the learning from the rapid review, but we will need to be mindful of the other parallel processes, which we do not want to impede.”