A five-year-old boy has died in America after controversial medical treatment for autism.

Abubakar Tariq Nadam suffered cardiac arrest and died on Tuesday after undergoing what's known as 'chelation therapy' for the third time.

The therapy, which Abubakar was receiving at the Advanced Integrative Medicine Centre near Pittsburgh, involves intravenous treatment to remove heavy metals which are thought by some to be the cause of the disorder, from the body.

A neighbour from the Somerset village of Batheaston, Norman Myers said that Abubakar had been "an active child and a beautiful one to look at. He was vigorous and always running about the garden."

Marwa Nadama, the boy's mother, says she does not blame the therapy for Abbubakar's death, and is waiting for results of an autopsy.

The autopsy results will not be known for several weeks, and a police inquiry has begun.

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