A grossly overweight child has been allowed to stay with his family by social services who could have taken the radical decision to place him in care.

Connor McCreaddie, an 8-year-old who weighs 14st, around four times the healthy weight of a child his age, was told the news today by North Tyneside social services.

Connor, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, weighed 15st 8lb before Christmas and has since lost one-and-a-half stone thanks to intensive exercise and healthier eating.

Connor and his mother, Nicola McKeown, 35, are believed to have both attended the meeting of the child protection conference.The hearing was held under Section 47 of the Children Act, which places a duty on the local authority to conduct an inquiry if it has “reasonable cause to suspect that a child... in their area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm“.

A North Tyneside Council spokeswoman said: "We have had a useful discussion today during which all agencies and the family confirmed that the priority in this matter is the 8-year-old boy.

“The local Safeguarding Children Board was able to confirm that its hope and ambition is to enable this child to remain with his family.

“In order to move this matter forward we have made a formal agreement with the family to safeguard and promote the child's welfare.”

An edition of Tonight With Trevor McDonald exploring child obesity, shown last night, featured the schoolboy, whose daily life was followed by film crews for a month.

It lays bare the full extent of the health, practical and emotional problems that Connor’s size poses after his mother agreed to allow cameras into the family home. Health workers and a dietician have been helping the family after Ms McKeown went to professionals for assistance but she claimed today that they had been of little use.

She told GMTV: “Through Connor’s weight gain there’s been no-one there to step in. He’s been going to doctors and stuff, he’s been getting weighed, and no-one’s actually stepped in and said ‘Look, there’s a problem here, we have to get it sorted.’

“So I asked for help and it’s been offered but it hasn’t been given yet.”

She said Connor had started to make an effort to lose weight after last summer when he became self-conscious about his body, but that his school nurse and GP had not been very helpful.

“I’ve only had reports from the school nurse now and then. Every time she said something was a problem we took him to his GP and they assessed and weighed him, took his height and everything, and just basically said go away and watch what he eats.

"But that’s what I’ve been doing constantly."

She also urged social workers to let her carry on caring for her son and dismissed claims she had been neglecting him.

She said: “I think it’s really terrible. They’ve tried to say that I’ve neglected Connor and he should come under the Child Abuse Act, and I think it’s really disgusting.”

The North Tyneside Council and North Tyneside Primary Care Trust issued a statement saying they were also concerned about Connor’s health and were working with the family.

It said: “We share the concerns over the child’s health and well-being. North Tyneside Council and North Tyneside Primary Care Trust have been working with the family over a prolonged period of time and will continue to do so.

“The child’s interests are paramount.”

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