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A dad tried to starve his four-year-old son to death because he wrongly thought he wasn't his child, it has been reported.

Vladik Molchenko was rescued by social workers in the small town of Novoukrainka in central Ukraine weighing just 15lbs.

He was covered in his own faeces and had been living in a handmade wooden cage, according to local reports.

His father Aleksandr Molchenko faces a life sentence after an investigation found the boy was deliberately starved.

Prosecutor's office spokesman Vitaliy Dolug said: “The investigation established that the child was not fed on purpose.

"The suspect thought that the child was not his biological son and tried to starve him to death.”

Molchenko reportedly suspected that his wife Natalia had gotten pregnant with another man after she gave birth to their third child.

However a recent DNA test has proved that to be false.

Natalia, who did nothing to help her son, has been charged with complicity in an attempted murder.

Vladik and his three sisters were taken to an orphanage. He now weighs 33lbs, which is considered healthy for his age.

The couple face life in prison if found guilty.

According to reports police had to smash down the front door of their house to rescue Vladik in August last year.

He could have died within days, experts said.

Paediatrician Ludmyla Lyashenko, who took part in the rescue, said: “We found Vladik in a small handmade wooden cage installed in a corner of the house.

"He could not see the room from his cage. He was covered with old faeces and with a swarm of flies."