A father has been accused of killing his three-year-old son by locking him in a washing machine and starting a cold wash cycle in France.Christophe Champenois, 33, inflicted the "punishment" on the toddler for misbehaving at his nursery school, police said.The child named Bastien had thrown a drawing by a classmate down a toilet earlier that day.On Friday evening, Champenois allegedly forced the child naked into the washing machine and let it run for "several minutes", reports said.The death has shocked the local communityNeighbour Alice told the French capital's newspaper Le Parisien the toddler's mother Charlene, 25, had rushed to her door carrying his body after the incident, claiming he had fallen down some stairs."I took him in my arms like a broken doll," Alice told the newspaper."I felt the last beat of his heart. Charlene didn't move. She was red all over. She didn't understand he was dead."Bastien is said to have died within minutes of being taken out of the family's home, near the Paris suburb of Meaux.A local police spokesman said: "A 33-year-old man has been arrested for murder of a minor."The man's wife has also been arrested for non-assistance of a person in danger."This man... will be held in custody until a date for his trial can be set."