Two arrested over murder of boy aged four in Coventry

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Two people are being questioned on suspicion of murdering a four-year-old boy, with one of the arrested pair believed to be the child's mother.



A 26-year-old woman and a man aged 32 were arrested after the child was found unconscious at his home in the Holbrooks area of Coventry.

The boy was not breathing and was taken to hospital where he died.

Coventry City Council confirmed the child was known to the city's social services.

A post-mortem examination revealed the boy died as a result of a head injury and the man and woman were arrested on suspicion of murder on Monday evening.

West Midlands Police said detectives from the force's Public Protection Unit were "working closely with the local authority as the investigation progresses" and support was being offered to the child's family.

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Coventry boy's death: More time to question murder suspects

Police have been granted more time to question a 26-year-old woman and a man aged 32 on suspicion of murdering a four-year-old boy in Coventry.

The pair were arrested after the child, who has not yet been named, was found unconscious at his home in the Holbrooks area on Saturday.

A post-mortem test revealed the boy died of a head injury. The woman is understood to be the child's mother.

Detectives have until Friday afternoon to continue questioning the pair.

Coventry City Council has previously confirmed the child was known to the city's social services.

A West Midlands Police spokesperson said: "Detectives from the force's public protection unit are working closely with the local authority as the investigation progresses and support is being offered to the boy's family."

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Holbrooks woman and partner charged with murder of her four-year-old son

A HOLBROOKS woman and her partner have been charged with the murder of her four-year-old son.

Daniel Pelka died of a head wound after being found unconscious at his home in Leyburn Close, Holbrooks, Coventry last Saturday.

Magdelena Luczak, 26, and Mariusz Krezolek, 32, will appear at Coventry Magistrates' Court tomorrow.

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Holbrooks mother and boyfriend charged with attacking her four-year-old son

A Holbrooks mother and her boyfriend have both been charged with attacking, ill-treating, neglecting and abandoning her four-year-old son before he died.

Magdelena Luczak, 27, and her partner Mariusz Krezolek, 33, are accused of denying Daniel Pelka food, locking him in a room, feeding him salt and failing to obtain prompt medical treatment.

Daniel - a pupil at Little Heath Primary School in Foleshill - was found unconscious at his home in Leyburn Close, Holbrooks, Coventry, on March 3.He was taken to University Hospital in Walsgrave but nothing could be done to save his life.

Two days later Luczak and Krezolek were arrested before being charged with Daniel’s murder.

On Thursday at Birmingham Crown Court they both formally denied that charge for the first time.

They also both denied two new charges - the first of which alleges they caused or allowed Daniel’s death between 1 September 2011 and 3 March 2012.

The second alleges cruelty to a person under 16 years of age between 1 January 2011 and 3 March 2012.

The details of that charge allege that Luczak and Krezolek “willfully assaulted, ill treated, neglected and abandoned Daniel Pelka”.

Both defendants lived with Daniel in Leyburn Close, Holbrooks.

They spoke through a Polish interpreter to confirm their names and enter their pleas during the hearing.

They will go on trial in Birmingham in May.

Mrs Justice Macur adjourned the hearing until February so details of witnesses can be finalised ahead of the trial.

No application for bail was made and the pair were once again remanded in custody ahead of the trial.

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Mother and stepfather found guilty



A callous mother and stepfather who beat a four-year-old Coventry boy to death after subjecting him to months of starvation and cruelty have been found guilty of murder.

Magdelena Luczak and Mariusz Krezolek, were convicted at Birmingham Crown Court of killing Daniel Pelka after the jury heard 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 on Friday, showed any obvious emotion as the guilty verdicts were returned after around four hours of deliberation.

The serious case review will examine why social services and police did not become involved after staff at Coventry's Little Heath Primary School noticed bruising on his neck and what appeared to be two black eyes.

Although the injuries to the neck were entered in a concerns book at Daniel's school, no written record was made of the later bruising seen around his eyes.

The trial heard Luczak played a leading role in convincing teachers and medical professionals that Daniel's dramatic weight loss, which left him looking like a famine victim, was due to a rare genetic disorder.

The serious case review is also expected to look into contact between doctors and Daniel, who was seen by a community paediatrician and found to be underweight but not "wasted" three weeks before his death.

The couple, who never took Daniel to see his GP, had previously colluded in covering up an earlier act of cruelty in which Daniel's left arm was broken "clean in half" by Krezolek in a fit of temper.

Social services closed their file on Daniel five months after the injury was passed off as an accident in January 2011.

Luczak denied murder but had admitted through her counsel that she was guilty of causing or allowing her son's death.

Due to the convictions for murder, no verdicts were required from the jury on the lesser alternative charge of causing death.

In a brief statement released by police, Eryk Pelka, Daniel's biological father, said: "It's a great tragedy that such a little angel had to leave this world.

"I hope that those responsible will be punished severely."

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What I can't understand is, if these inhuman dogs didn't want the boy then why didn't the inadequate mother make arrangements for the boy to live with his biological father.
I can't understand how any mother would allow her child to be so cruelly abused.

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The mother of Daniel Pelka and her partner have both been given life sentences.



Magdelena Luczak and Mariusz Krezolek were convicted of four-year-old Daniel's murder at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday.

Mrs Justice Cox said the sentence reflected the '"incomprehensible brutality by both of you up to his death".

She ordered that both must serve a minimum term of 30 years.

Luczak, 27, and Krezolek, 34, had denied murder and blamed each other.

The judge told the pair they had "caused [Daniel] severe physical and mental suffering".

Mrs Justice Cox said the two had killed Daniel in a "campaign of cruelty".

"Complicity in ill treatment started with a broken arm when he was just three and a half.

"What was handed out to Daniel was incomprehensible brutality by both of you," she told the pair.

Daniel's punishments were "designed to humiliate", the judge said, and he was "a victim of chronic and systematic starvation".

He was also subjected to cold water punishment.

"We will never know exactly what form it took because you have not explained it - he must have been absolutely terrified," Mrs Justice Cox said.

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Mother of tragic Daniel Pelka dies in prison two years into life sentence



Magdalena Luczak, the mother of murdered four-year-old Daniel Pelka, has died at HMP Foston Hall Prison, the Ministry of Justice has said.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "HMP Foston Hall prisoner Magdelena Luczak was found unresponsive in her cell at approximately 7.15am on Tuesday 14th July.

"Paramedics attended and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

"As with all deaths in custody there will be an investigation by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman."

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Daniel Pelka's mum was found hanged in her cell, inquest hears

Daniel Pelka’s mother was found hanged in her prison cell, an inquest has heard.

The hearing into the death of Magdalena Luczak, aged 29, was opened at Derby Coroners Court this morning.

It heard that Luczak – who was at Foston Hall Prison two years into a 30-year life sentence handed down for Daniel’s murder – died as a result of hanging.

Paramedics were called to the women’s prison at 7.15am on Tuesday, the day before what would have been Daniel’s eighth birthday.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman has previously said: “Paramedics attended and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

“As with all deaths in custody there will be an investigation by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.”

A full inquest will be held at a later date.

I doubt there will be many tears shed for her.

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Daniel Pelka memorial items removed from Coventry cemetery



Tributes left around a memorial to a starved and murdered boy in Coventry have been removed by council workers.

Nicci Astin, of Justice for Daniel Pelka, said people were "upset and angry" after many items were taken from St Paul's Cemetery, in Holbrooks.

Daniel's mother Magdalena Luczak and her partner Mariusz Krezolek were each jailed for at least 30 years for murdering Daniel. Luczak died in July.

The council said items "significantly encroached" on to a neighbouring plot.

All removed items had been kept safely, the authority said.

Ms Astin set up the memorial so Daniel would "not be forgotten".

The stone was erected in November 2013 at the same time as one in Lodz, Poland, where Daniel, who died aged four, is buried.

Ms Astin said: "They've taken so much away, they've left a tiny little square.

"It's different from a grave; because it's a memorial there are a lot of people who visit and there are things on there that people have placed and they mean a lot to people.

"There are letters from children and it's just heartbreaking to think that someone's just taken them away."

A serious case review found Daniel was "invisible" at times to agencies, who had missed opportunities to help him.

Ms Astin said: "I've always said that he will never, ever be referred to as being invisible again."

Rachel Lancaster, cabinet member for public services, said the memorial was an important place for people to reflect on Daniel's short life.

"It is surrounded by the graves of other children and so it is important we maintain the whole area for everyone visiting their loved ones," she said.

"Over a period of time, unfortunately the things left for Daniel have significantly encroached on the neighbouring grave. This meant we had to re-mark out the space available for people to leave gifts at Daniel's memorial."

Ms Lancaster said the items would be returned to the Justice for Daniel group by councillors this week and the future management of the memorial discussed.