A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD boy who weighs three times as much as a child his age could be taken into care this week if his mother does not improve his diet.

The intervention of the social services into the case of Connor McCreaddie, who has broken four beds and five bicycles, is seen as a landmark in the fight against youth obesity.

If his mother fails to improve his diet, the 14-stone youngster could be placed on the child protection register or on the less serious children in need register.

His mother and grandmother, of Wallsend, Newcastle, have been asked to attend a formal child protection conference tomorrow which could lead to formal proceedings to take him into care.

His mother, Nicola McKeown, said last night: "If he gets taken into care, it will be the death of me."

At his heaviest, Connor - who has been bullied at school because of his weight - tipped the scales at a staggering 15Â stones.

Weighing three times more than the average child for his own age, he is so heavy he has to sleep on a mattress on the floor.

He has missed weeks of classes because he cannot manage the five-minute walk to school without running out of breath or vomiting.

Unemployed Mrs McKeown, who suffers from depression, said she tried to make sure Connor followed a healthy diet.

During an average day, Connor will eat three pieces of buttered toast for breakfast, sandwiches or a school meal for lunch, and pasta or a rice dish in the evening.

"I don't see how they can say we are not doing enough when everyone is rallying around trying to do something for Connor,'' Mrs McKeown told Tonight with Trevor McDonald.

"The worst case would see Connor getting taken into care. He is well cared for between the family. He is well looked after, he always has been. It is just the fact that he has totally demented me, wanting fed constantly. It is so hard."

She said Connor steals and hides food, and loves curry, chips and junk food.

"He has double, treble what a normal seven-year-old would have, but if I didn't give him enough at teatime then he would just go on at us all night for snacks and stuff," she told the programme. ''All that I would like to say is try coping with a hungry child 24-7 and constantly hassling and nagging you."

Ms McKeown, 35, said that by the time Connor was 18 months old he was in age five clothes. When he was five, he weighed more than nine stones.

Connor, who at 5ft is also very tall for his age, has been given an exemption from wearing school uniform because the family could not find one big enough for him.

Ms McKeown said: "Sometimes I buy him exotic fruit, in the hope he will like it, but as soon as he tastes it, he doesn't want it."

Consultant paediatrician Dr Michael Markiewicz said that unless Connor lost a lot of weight he faced an early death.

''They love him, but they are actually loving him to death - literally in fact," he said. "I'm not saying they can't care for him, but what they are doing through the way they are treating and feeding him, they are slowly killing him."