A two-year-old boy in a town in England died of starvation and was found in his pyjamas curled up next to his dead father, who had suffered a heart attack days earlier.

A social worker found Bronson Battersby dead on Jan 9, alongside his 60-year-old father Kenneth Battersby, at their home in Skegness, Lincolnshire, two weeks after the two were last seen by a neighbour on Boxing Day, Dec 26.

The Lincolnshire County Council has launched an inquiry to determine if lapses by various government agencies involved might have led to the boy’s death.

Ms Heather Sandy, executive director of the council’s children services, told the BBC a social worker met Mr Battersby on Dec 27, and a home visit was arranged for Jan 2.

“The social worker went to Bronson and Kenneth’s home and had no response to the knock at the door. So, she looked at other addresses to try and locate Bronson, and when she failed to do that, she spoke to her manager and she contacted police,” said Ms Sandy.

The social worker went back on Jan 4, but again did not get a response.

She returned on Jan 9. When no one answered the door, she alerted the landlady and gained entry to the property.

Bronson’s mother, Ms Sarah Piesse, 43, told The Guardian she last saw her son before Christmas. She had been living apart from Mr Battersby and had got in a fight with him when she last saw him.

Mr Battersby was believed to have died of a heart attack no earlier than Dec 29. He was unemployed and had a pre-existing heart condition that caused him to become severely jaundiced in the months leading up to his death.

Ms Piesse told The Guardian that the post-mortem examination found that her son had died of dehydration and starvation.

“Bronson starved to death because his dad died,” she said.

“I couldn’t pick him up because his body was too fragile,” she said. “I could only touch him. He had been left there too long.”

A neighbour, who claimed she knew the family, described Bronson as a “gorgeous, happy little boy”.

The boy loved watching cartoons on the YouTube channel Cocomelon, nursery rhymes, and playing with his drum kit, she said.

Ms Maria Clifton-Plaice, Mr Battersby’s landlady, told the BBC that finding the two bodies was one of the “worst (days) of my life”.

She said she did not know Bronson well, but remarked: “I know he’d come and started staying with Kenny recently, and he was just probably the light of his dad’s eye. He was, I think, Kenny’s chance to be a good dad.”

Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman described what happened as a tragedy.

“It does appear that social services made repeated contact. They tried to get hold (of), and the system did not seem to understand, the potential gravity of the situation. That’s what we’ve got to try and understand,” he said.