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An Australian father whose five-year-old son died after he turned a blind eye to the  squalor he lived in with his mentally-ill mother is believed to be living in the UK. 

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, lived with his family in Melbourne, in a house so filthy it was described in court as 'unfit for an animal to live in, let alone a human'.

Yet while his sons slept surrounded by human faeces, rodent-infested rubbish and rotting food, he slept in a clean spare room and failed to realised that his wife wasn't taking her children to school, despite her obvious lies and falsified class certificates.

Sadly, the parents' neglect only came to light after the death of their youngest child, who died aged five in 2012, and while the official cause of death is 'ascertained', forensic doctors believe he contracted a serious bacterial infection after cutting his toe on an open tin of cat food.

Legal action was taken against the parents - but the mother died from alcohol abuse shortly after the trial began and the father was given a three-year suspended sentence.

He ended up serving no jail time, insisting he didn't feel responsible for his son's living conditions or death, and is believed to have fled to Britain after wanting to start a new life here. 

An Australian father who left his sons to live in squalor with their mentally ill mother before his youngest died from an apparent infected cut is now believed to be in the UK (stock photo)

Sam's, whose name has been changed for legal reasons, parents were a young professional couple when they met in 1996. Sarah* was a legal secretary, while Sam's father was an executive in the lucrative energy industry.

It was a whirlwind romance and a year later, they married in a traditional Catholic ceremony surrounded by family and friends.

The newlyweds purchased their first home, their dream home, in a picturesque new suburb with tree lined streets and manicured gardens just a few kilometres from the city. 

They were a hard working couple, financially well off and immensely proud of the life they were building together.

Sam's older brother Andrew arrived in 2004 and the couple purchased two investment properties. 

But sometime between the birth of their first son and the arrival of Sam in 2006, things began to go horribly wrong. 

Sam's birth was never registered, with Sarah giving birth to him at home, and he and his brother never went to school and were rarely allowed outside, except for when their mother locked them out of the house, often naked, because she was sick of them. 

Speaking about the conditions that the little boy was found in, Victorian County Court Judge Michael Rozenes said: 'Filth is a generous description. Authorities had no knowledge a child even lived there because if they did, the child would have been removed. 

'In every sense this is truly tragic, his death and the condition he endured in his short life.'  

The floors in every room of the house were covered with household rubbish, rotting food and opened cans of pet food. 

There was human and animal faeces smeared on the walls, broken furniture and upended chairs and tables, broken toys everywhere. 

Hundreds of bags of rotting, rodent infested rubbish were piled up. Hardened policemen vomited when they entered the home to investigate.    

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, lived with his family in Melbourne, in a house so filthy it was described in court as 'unfit for an animal to live in, let alone a human' (stock photo)

Police prosecutors revealed that Sarah had printed up fake school certificates, made up homework sheets, and often told her husband she'd spent the day doing tuck shop duty when in fact her children had never attended school. 

She'd coached the boys to tell their father school was 'great' if he asked but neither child could recite the alphabet beyond A, B and C. 

On August 1, 2012, Sam was rushed to a local ambulance station by his mother.

The child was lying naked on the back seat of her car, not moving, skin grey and mottled. CPR was quickly performed but it was too late, Sam had died.

Three days earlier, the little boy had cut his toe on a tin of cat food left on the floor of the family home. 

The autopsy report said that his emaciated body was covered in dirt and an 'unpleasant' smelling blood soaked bandaged was wrapped around the toe, which was 'sodden'. 

Forensic doctors concluded that Sam's death was most likely from the severe infection via the cut on his toe, 'through disease by virtue of the bacteria, faeces and rotting material within the home environment'. 

When police arrived at the family's home later that evening to question his parents, they were shocked by what they saw.

'In my 26 years within the police force I have never seen or been in a house of such squalor,' said a veteran detective sergeant. 

'The smell was immense and sickening, it was foul. The house was not fit to be lived in by humans or in that fact even animals. 

'I cannot imagine how anyone could live in that house…words do not do justice in describing the condition of the house and it is impossible to describe the smell.'  

When Sarah was questioned about the state of the house in her police interview she said, 'I just got overwhelmed, I've always been a bit of a procrastinator.' She described her home as 'a hovel that was unfit for humans to live in.'

She said the house had been like that for two or three years, and when asked why she didn't seek help she said it was embarrassing.

'It's shameful, it's disgusting. It's unacceptable. It's sheer and utter filth. We recognised that, we, 'f'd' up, we failed. We did not provide an environment that our children – or any human being deserves to live in.'

The boys mother and father were taken into custody and in August 2014, they pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to multiple charges relating to Sam's death. 

Yet shortly after entering their plea, Sarah collapsed in the dock and later died in hospital. She was suffering severe mental health issues and organ failure related to long term alcohol abuse. 

The statements she made to police immediately after Sam's death were the only clues as to how the life of the young mother unravelled so badly.  

Posthumously, psychiatrists diagnosed Sarah with severe post natal depression, believing she was in a dissociative and delusional state.   

Meanwhile Judge Rozenes was stunned by Sam's fathers behaviour, telling the court room: 'He wasn't suspicious that he never went to a parent teacher interview, never went to a school play or sport day? It beggars belief he couldn't see something was wrong.'

His defence team claimed he'd simply given up trying to make things right.

Sam's father claimed that on three separate occasions, he'd ordered giant bins and cleaned the house out, but within days the rubbish began piling up again. 

He encouraged his wife to seek medical help, but she refused and threatened to take the children way if he intervened. On one occasion she disappeared with the children.

Unable to combat her deteriorating mental state, Sam's father turned a blind eye, leaving for work early in the morning and coming home late at night. He slept in the spare bedroom which he kept clean.

He said he didn't feel responsible for Sam's death and vowed that his wife was a 'magnificent mother who spoiled the kids rotten.'

Sam's father, who claimed he had simply given up trying to get his wife to accept help and had turned a blind eye to the mess, was sentenced to three years prison, but his sentence wholly suspended. 

In handing down his verdict, Judge Rozenes slammed his actions and said, 'Where did you wash? Where did you dress? I find it difficult, if not impossible to think you accommodated these conditions. 

'You had a choice and you chose to put up with it. A responsible parents would have done something. Your contribution to parenting is nothing short of shameful.' 

In a final, cruel twist, Sam's father applied to the court to have the little boy's ashes blended with the ashes of his mother so they can be interred 'together forever.' 

After the court case, Sam's father is thought to have moved to the UK, where he is believed to have hoped to be starting afresh and putting the horrors of his past life behind him.  

 *Names have been changed for legal reasons.