A 32-year-old Argentine man has reportedly killed his son and burned the body before taking his own life a few metres away to get back at his estranged wife.

Maximiliano Lazarte allegedly killed his three-year-old son at his home in the neighbourhood of Nestor Kirchner in the city of San Miguel de Tucuman in the northern Argentine province of Tucuman on 12th February.

The police found the two dead bodies at the home at around noon the following day.

The charred body of the young boy, named Maximo, was found lying on the floor of a room under construction in the house while his father’s body was found hanging from the ceiling a few metres away.

According to the Fire Department, there was no power fault in the room and the fire was already extinguished by the time they arrived.

The 32-year-old man worked as a bricklayer and had separated from Maximo’s mother, name not reported, two weeks earlier following a decade together.

The woman’s mother told the news site La Gaceta that Lazarte was violent and “obsessed” with keeping possession of his son.

She said: “He killed my grandson to take revenge on my daughter.”

The boy’s grandmother said she found her daughter locked in a room one day and claimed Lazarte would not let her go to work. After that, she moved in with her mother at her home.

While estranged, Lazarte was going to spend four days with little Maximo when he allegedly took his life at his home.

The mother grew suspicious the following day when calling her ex to find out how Maximo was doing.

Lazarte’s sister, who lives next door, was the first to discover the bodies the following day.

Prosecutor Alejandro Valeros told La Gaceta: “Coroners determined they had been dead at the scene for 24 hours. The scene was really devastating.”