Mother and boyfriend found guilty of murder of Daniel Pelka who suffered systematic abuse and starvation
A "callous and wretched" mother and her partner are facing life sentences for murdering a four-year-old boy who was systematically starved and beaten by the pair.
The "incomprehensible" murder of Daniel Pelka by his mother Magdelena Luczak and her partner Mariusz Krezolek is now the subject of a serious case review.
Paul Davies' report contains distressing descriptions of the extreme abuse suffered by Daniel:
Jurors took under four hours to unanimously convict Luczak and Krezolek following a nine-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.The couple battered Daniel to death after a six-month campaign of cruelty in which he was denied food, "imprisoned" in a locked box room which he was also forced to use as a bathroom and force-fed salt.
Both originally from Poland, the pair also forced Daniel to perform arduous punishment exercises such as squats or running
The pair took steps to hide their abuse from teachers and doctors who were convinced by them that believing his weight loss was due to an eating disorder.
Neither Krezolek nor Luczak, who face mandatory life terms when they are sentenced on Friday, showed any obvious emotion as they were found guilty.
Jurors heard that Daniel was left to die in his unheated "cell" for around 33 hours after suffering a fatal head injury at his Coventry home on 1st March last year.
Former soldier Krezolek - described in court as a heartless "monster" - and Luczak blamed each other for Daniel's death during their trial.
But text messages between the pair proved they worked as a team to inflict the sickening abuse and even opted not to summon an ambulance as Daniel lay dying with more than 20 separate injuries.
Medical records show Daniel weighed 14.8kg (2 stone 4lbs) in January 2011 and 13.8kg three weeks before his death.
But the schoolboy, who had developed normally until January 2011, weighed just 10.7kg and was in a state of "skeletal emaciation" at the time of his death on March 3 last year.
Although he should been around 3ft 9ins, he was only 3ft 3ins because his bones had stopped growing due to food deprivation over at least three months and possibly up to nine months.
In a brief statement released by police, Eryk Pelka, Daniel's biological father, said: