Mother, stepfather convicted of boy’s murder

Agencies/London

A callous mother and stepfather who battered to death a four-year-old boy after subjecting him to six months of systematic starvation and “incomprehensible” cruelty have been found guilty of murder.

A jury at Birmingham Crown Court convicted Magdelena Luczak and Mariusz Krezolek of killing Daniel Pelka after hearing how he was denied food, regularly “imprisoned” in a locked room, force-fed salt and made to perform arduous punishment exercises.

The boy’s murder, which occurred weeks after teaching staff saw him with bruising to his neck and black eyes, is the subject of a serious case review by Coventry’s Safeguarding Children Board.

Neither Krezolek nor Luczak, who will be sentenced tomorrow, showed any obvious emotion as the guilty verdicts were returned after around four hours of deliberation.

A nine-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court heard the couple, both originally from Poland, hid the horrifying abuse by claiming Daniel had an eating disorder.

Jurors were also told how Daniel was left to die in his unheated “cell” for around 33 hours after suffering a fatal head injury at his Coventry home on March 1 last year.

Former soldier Krezolek - described in court as a heartless “monster” - and Luczak blamed each other for Daniel’s death during the trial.

But text messages between the pair proved they worked as a team to inflict the sickening abuse and even decided not to summon an ambulance as Daniel lay dying with more than 20 separate injuries.