Despite his abandonment, the boy still managed to attend his nearby school every day, the court heard. He was described as “very mature and very resilient”.

Teachers were reportedly unaware of his situation and considered him to be a model student.

“He was smiling, a very good student, always clean, polite … no sign that he was abandoned,” Barbara Couturier, the mayor of Nersac, told TF1.

Fellow classmates said the boy was open about his abandonment.

“He told classmates he ate alone and took the bus alone. He didn’t go out, he stayed at home,” one student told French TV.

Police first began looking into the case after concerned neighbours raised the alarm. His mother, who is separated from the boy’s father and had custody over him, denied to officers and in court that she had abandoned her son.

“I’m not a mother hen, but he’s still my son,” she told the court. She had earlier claimed to police that the boy visited her at her boyfriend’s home.

But analysis of her phone records and geolocation data proved those claims to be false and revealed she had only visited the apartment where her son lived twice in his final 12 months there.

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When questioned why the property’s fridge was empty and she had no personal belongings at the flat, given she claimed not to have abandoned her child, the mother reportedly told officers that her toothbrush had fallen behind a shelf.

The child is now in foster care and reportedly refuses to see his mother, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison, 12 of which were suspended, for abandonment of a minor.

She is currently serving the sentence under house arrest and has been ordered to undergo counselling.

The Telegraph, London

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