French father charged after boy killed in washing machine

Police in France have charged a 33-year-old father with murder after he allegedly killed his three-year-old son by stuffing him into a washing machine and turning it on. The man was charged with "murder of a minor" late Sunday in the city of Meaux near Paris, court sources said, while the boy's mother was charged with failing to prevent a crime and failing to assist a person in danger. Both were held without bail. Newspaper Le Parisien quoted neighbours as saying that the boy, Bastien, died on Friday after his father put him naked in the washing machine to punish him for getting into trouble at nursery school. Neighbour Alice told the newspaper that the boy's mother had rushed to her door carrying the boy's body after the incident, claiming Bastien had fallen down the stairs. "He felt like a limp doll," Alice said. Neighbours told the newspaper the boy had been repeatedly abused, including by being locked up for hours in a cupboard.