A dad accused of faking a mugging after leaving his severely handicapped six-year-old son to drown in a river has been seized by police.

Suspect Florian Apler, 38, had told police he had been knocked unconscious by a robber while pushing his son Leon in a buggy in Sankt Johan, Tyrol, Austria.

When he came to, he claimed, his son had disappeared and he called police, who carried out a desperate search for the boy.

Leon’s body was found later in the Kitzbueheler Ache river in what appeared to be a tragic accident.

Following the alleged incident, Apler and his wife Sandra offered a EUR 30,0000 (GBP 26,000) reward for any information related to the mugger.

Now – six months after the death on 29th August 2022 – the father has been arrested as the prime suspect in the boy’s killing.

It is understood he denies the allegation.

Austrian police have announced that Apler was arrested at the request of the Public Prosecutor of Innsbruck on 27th February.

Police also claimed in a later statement on 1st March that Alper is suspected of faking the robbery.

The statement obtained by Newsflash said: “According to the findings of the State Criminal Police Office so far, there is a suspicion that the alleged robbery did not take place and that the father himself is responsible for the boy’s death.

“The arrested person was questioned yesterday by the State Criminal Police Office in the presence of his defense attorneys.

“He has denied the suspicion and sticks to his previous account.”

The police added: “However, based on the results of the investigation so far, the public prosecutor’s office assumes that there is an urgent suspicion of murder and the pretense of a criminal offense.”

The Innsbruck District Court now has to decide whether Alper will be held in custody.

Tragic Leon suffered from a rare genetic condition SYNGAP1 and had severe learning disabilities.