UK: Child killed by mom after repeated blows to chest ruptures' his heart

London: A 31-year-old woman and her lesbian partner have been charged with multiple counts of child abuse after her two-year-old son was discovered dead in her house with multiple injuries.

According to a report in the Dail Mail, the toddler Liam Fee died of a ruptured heart after he was subjected to intense blows to his heart.

Medical reports also revealed that Liam had over 30 injury marks on his body including a fractured upper arm and thigh.

Liam's mother Rachel and her lesbian partner Nyomi are also accused of abusing two other boys whom they took under 'protection'.

Hearing the charges against the couple, the Livingston High Court was also told that the couple imprisoned Liam in a cage, with his hands tied behind his back with a cable, while another child was tied naked to a chair in a dark room with snakes and rats left around him. The latter was also forced to eat his vomit.

The children were also forced to take cold showers when they wet their bed.

Rachel Fee left Liam's father Joseph Johnson to live with her girlfriend and would-be partner Nyomi Fee.

Liam's abuse story came to fore when he was seen with bruises by his childminder Heather Farmer, who alerted police and child care officials. But on investigation, the Fees informed the investigating officer that he ‘bumped his head’.

The abuse continued, while Liam 'went off the radar' of the social services, despite another tip off that Liam could be drugged and looked 'deathly'.

The child was also chained and imprisoned in a box in a cage, the court heard.

The couple denied charges and tried shifting the blame on another boy, who was terrorised by the couple to such extent that he accepted the blame and said that he strangled Liam.

But the investigators were unconvinced as medical reports proved that Liam did not die of strangling, but of a ruptured heart owing to repeated blows to the chest.

The court was also told the browsing history of the mother, Rachel, which included shocking searches like ‘How long can you live with a broken leg’, ‘Do hip fractures heal on their own’ and ‘Can wives be in prison together’. Rachel and her partner are believed to have left Liam suffer with a broken leg days before he died.

The couple who were charged here on Tuesday showed little sign of emotion.