A three-year-old boy almost died of starvation after being allegedly put in a freezing "punishment cell" at home where he was so hungry he ripped out his own hair and ate them, a UK court has heard.
The Daily Mail reports that the parents of the child have been jailed for keeping him in a tiny room with no lights, heating or food.
Mother Lisa Brooks, 25, and stepfather Tomas Lewis, 22 are alleged to have taken camera phone footage of the boy in the room.
The court was shown the footage that showed the boy naked in the room crying and hitting himself, with the defendants ordering him to stand facing the wall and saying he would not have any breakfast if he didn't do so.
The court heard that the boy - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was "hours away from death" due to extreme starvation and dehydration when he was rescued and rushed to hospital.
"I found the boy locked in a bare cell-like room. There was no lighting, the radiator was turned off and it was snowing outside. All there was in the room was a potty, a bowl and a fork," a teary-eyed PC James Periam who rescued the boy said.
Brooks and Lewis pleaded guilty to wilful neglect and were sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday.
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