A man from north-west London faces nine years behind bars for manslaughter and child neglect after the death of his three-year-old son, who he force-fed so much he would vomit.

The 32-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced at the Old Bailey today (Thursday, October 27) after being found guilty of the two counts, following majority verdicts the day before.

Metropolitan Police were called to the property in north-west London in November last year to reports of an unresponsive child.

The three-year-old boy was taken to a north London hospital where he was pronounced dead, prompting the arrest of the father.

A post-mortem, which took place at St Thomas' Hospital, found "aspiration of stomach contents" as the cause of the death.

It was found the child's lungs were "extremely blocked" with food, and the professor who carried out the post-mortem said this may have been historical.

During the trial jurors heard that the child was regularly "force-fed" by his father, even though there were no medical reasons preventing him from feeding himself.

Witnesses who knew the child testified they had seen him choosing and eating food independently without any problems.

There was evidence presented in court that sometimes the boy would struggle while being placed in a prone "feeding" position, leading to food going into the child's nose and eyes, and even vomiting.

The father would also mix together food such as cereal and bread with milk, then place his son on his lap and force him to drink the mixture.

The child was not found to have any pre-existing medical conditions or eating disorders that would have contributed towards his final, fatal collapse.

Detective chief inspector Andy Partridge, from the homicide and major crime command, who led the investigation, said: "The circumstances of this case are unusual, distressing and thankfully extremely rare.

"The 'force-feeding' of this young child was unnecessary and directly led to his death.

"The child was capable of feeding himself and did not have any issues that in any way warranted him being fed by his father in the manner described in court."

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