BIRMINGHAM: Magdelena Luczak 27, Mother of Daniel Pelka, and her partner, Mariusz Krezolek, 34,the step father of Daniel Pelka face life behind bars for beating little Daniel to death after starving and abusing him for six months.
Mrs Justice Cox has returned to court to deliver the sentencing.
She says even though there might not have been intent to kill, that does not provide a great deal of, if any, mitigation.
Luczak and Krezolek, both originally from Poland, also forced Daniel to perform arduous punishment exercises such as squats or running, while duping teachers and doctors into believing his weight loss was as a result of an eating disorder.
Police said the abuse had turned Daniel from a “bright-eyed boy” to “a broken bag of bones”.
At time of death, he weighed just 1st 7lb (10.7kg) and had been reduced to the point of “skeletal emaciation” by the regime of starvation orchestrated by his stepfather and mother.
Detectives described the harrowing death as the worst case of child abuse they had ever seen.
Here is a list of the injuries inflicted on Daniel at the time of his death.
A major probe is now under way into why teachers, doctors and social workers failed to stop mum Magdalena Luczak, 27, and lover Mariusz Krezolek, 34, carrying out the horrific abuse.
Before being battered to death in March last year, Daniel was so malnourished his bones had stopped growing and he looked like a Nazi concentration camp victim.
The family home’s kitchen was full of food but if starved Daniel took any he was force-fed salt so he would throw up.
The lad was subjected to terrifying water torture – with Luczak bragging to her boyfriend about abusing her son and nearly drowning him in the bath.
When they weren’t torturing Daniel at the property, the couple kept him locked in a nightmarish, homemade prison.
The judge says she has “not seen any indication” that Krezolek is deeply ashamed of what he has done.
Both prosecution and defence agree that the minimum starting point should be 15 years.
Mrs Justice Cox highlights that there are “high and seriously aggravating features” in the case.
Krezolek’s barrister says he is “truly sorry for all that he has done and is deeply ashamed.”
Luczak barrister says she “came to this country hoping for a better life. Now she is facing life in prison. She has lost everything. Her situation is truly desperate.
Eleven of the 12 jurors who convicted Luczak and Krezolek have returned to see them jailed.
Throughout the case each blamed the other for the child’s death.
Jurors, who had sat through a wealth of evidence charting six months of systematic abuse against the defenceless youngster, took less than four hours to unanimously convict Luczak and former soldier Krezolek on Wednesday.
Evidence included details of Daniel’s final moments as he was first savagely beaten, leaving him with a fatal head injury, and then left to die alone in his unheated “cell” room over a period of 33 hours.
The couple colluded in a campaign of cruelty in which he was denied food, imprisoned in a locked box room and force-fed salt at their Coventry home.
A “callous and wretched” mother and stepfather will be jailed for life today for murdering a four-year-old boy who was systematically starved under the noses of his teachers and health professionals.
Magdelena Luczak, 27, and her partner, Mariusz Krezolek, 34 were described as heartless “monsters” during the nine-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
The pair face mandatory life terms when they appear before Mrs Justice Cox at the same court today.
