London child found confined

(Update) A filthy bedroom inside an unkempt house in southwest London was a 10-year-old boy’s prison for two years.

“Well there was a lot of garbage in the house, there was a lot of packaging from fast food outlets,” said Kevin Heslop of London Police Service. “In the bedroom specifically there was feces, urine. The bed was soaked in urine as was childs pyjamas. And there were food wastes throughout the house.”

He was discovered after an anonymous tip led a Children’s Aid worker to the home. She caught a glimpse of him in the window and called police.

“He appeared underweight, long hair below his shoulders and he was quite pale,” said Heslop.

The child’s aunt and uncle, his legal guardians, have been jailed on charges of forcible confinement and failure to provide the necessities of life.

The boy was fed fast food twice a day and never went to school.

His cousin, a 9-year-old girl, was also taken into the custody of the Children’s Aid Society. Police don’t believe she was forcibly confined.

The boy is malnourished but recovering well. His requests to his new caretakers are heartbreaking indications of how deprived his life was, all alone in that room.

“He wanted regular food and he said the one thing he wants is to go to school. So I think that’s a good sign that he wants to re-enter the world,” said Jane Fitzgerald of London Middlesex Children’s Aid Society.

Police say the boy has lived here since 2010 when they believe he immigrated from another country. His biological parents stayed behind and that’s when his aunt and uncle became his guardians. Police say they have not yet been able to reach his parents.

Additional video: News Now coverage of the London Police news conference: