Couple guilty of murdering boy, four, starved and kept in ‘cell’

Daniel Pelka was battered to death by Magdelena Luczak and Mariusz Krezolek after a six-month campaign of cruelty in which he was denied food, “imprisoned” in a locked box room and force-fed salt.

The couple, originally from Poland, forced Daniel to perform arduous punishment exercises such as squats or running, while hoodwinking teachers and doctors into 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 in under four hours following a nine-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

The “incomprehensible” murder, which has chilling echoes of the 2007 death of 17-month-old Baby P, is now the subject of a serious case review.

Coventry’s Safeguarding Children Board will want to know how the scale of the abuse was missed, despite apparently clear signs.

The trial heard teaching staff at the city’s Little Heath Primary School had seen Daniel with bruising to his neck and black eyes. Teachers and medical professionals were duped by Luczak into believing that Daniel’s dramatic weight loss, which left him in a state of “skeletal emaciation” at the time of his death on March 3 last year, was due to a rare genetic disorder.

In another missed opportunity, an incident in which Daniel’s arm was broken “clean in half” by Krezolek in a fit of temper was passed off as an accident.

Jurors heard that Daniel was ultimately 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. By the time Krezolek called 999 he was already dead.

The couple used vanilla-scented air fresheners to mask the smell of the shabby and foul-smelling room, which had a flimsy and stained mattress as its only furnishing.

When police first entered the property following Daniel’s death, the mattress had been hidden and clean clothes, a child’s bike and other items had been used to mock up an air of normality.

Subsequent inquiries established the door handles and spindle had been removed to stop him escaping.

Krezolek, a former soldier – 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.

Among the text messages which showed that the couple “took relish” in their abuse, was one saying “he won’t see grub at all” and another stating that he had nearly been drowned.

A message sent by Krezolek on October 7, 2011, also urged Luczak to lock Daniel in the box room and wait for him to return home.

They also carried out internet searches – including one for “patient in a coma” – which suggested the youngster had been beaten, subjected to an attempted drowning, and poisoned with salt during his final hours.

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.”

The senior investigating officer in the case, Detective Inspector Chris Hanson, described the murder as an “unforgivable and heart-breaking” betrayal of trust.

The officer said: “It was a callous and wretched murder. After a savage beating they left him, starving, locked in a room in the dark to die on his own.”