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An eight-year-old boy has died after he choked on his own vomit when his father and stepmother allegedly forced him to eat his own poo.

Landon Yahir died in the city of Saltillo, in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, where he was reportedly made to eat his own faeces by his father Jacinto Alvarez and stepmother Olga Leticia Moreno.

The couple were arrested after Landon's four-year-old younger half brother, Santiago, spoke out about his death.

But Alvarez and Leticia Moreno were not detained by police even though tests confirmed Landon had swallowed faeces.

Landon had reportedly suffered abuse and neglect since his father split up with his biological mother, Angeles Yousuri Villalobos Perez, five years ago.

(Image: VANGUARDIA MX/Youtube)

He was often left to walk alone through the neighbourhood where he was nicknamed 'El Chavo del Ocho' after a popular Mexican TV series about a poor orphan.

For a while, he lived with his grandparents in Saltillo, but a year ago, his father took him by force to live with him and Leticia Moreno and their four children in Monterrey, the capital of the north-eastern state of Nuevo Leon.

But he was not treated as a member of the family and was allegedly left isolated in one room where he lived, ate, slept and used plastic bags to go to the toilet.

Landon died during a trip to visit his grandparents back in Saltillo with his father and stepmother.

(Image: VANGUARDIA MX/Youtube)

Alvarez, for unknown reasons, allegedly forced the boy to eat his own faeces and then gave him chicken soup and milk to take away the taste.

But Landon could not stop retching and choked on his own vomit. Alvarez and Leticia Moreno took him to a fire station where paramedics confirmed the youngster had died.

They also notified the police who arrested Alvarez and Leticia Moreno. However, the couple were later released despite what Santiago told them and the evidence of doctors who found faeces in the boy's stomach.

Relatives of the dead boy, including his aunt, Consuelo Jimenez, are calling for police to charge the couple with causing his death.

They say Landon had been so badly neglected that he weighed only about 10 kilogrammes (one stone 8 lbs) at the time of his death.

Ms Jiminez said: "We ask that justice be done and that the authorities arrest them."