A 15-STONE seven-year-old boy fed on bread and lard has been taken away from his parents by worried social workers.

The unnamed child has been taken into care and hospitalised where he is undergoing a special weight-reduction programme monitored by doctors.


Kill

They say he has been overweight since he was one, plagued by breathing and heart complications which could kill him if left untreated.

His parents are said to have ignored doctors' advice over treatment for a hormonal problem and warnings over his diet of bread and lard for every meal.

A spokesman for the Child Protection Agency in Romania said the boy, who has only been identified as being from a village in Botosani county, eastern Romania, said: "The child can be healthy again following treatment."

Authorities said the childs mum disappeared after he went into hospital and had abandoned five of her other children in the past.