LONDON: In a gory incident, a Chinese man has allegedly killed an 11-year-old boy and ate his brain to cure his epilepsy, a media report said.

Wang Chaoxu of Qixian village in Yunnan, south west China, killed the boy, Li Xuetang, who was found buried three miles away in a grain field in a neighbouring village, with the top of his head peeled back and part of his brain removed, the Sun quoted police as saying.

Wang, who was arrested following an eyewitness account, told cops he believed an old wives' tale that eating the brain with earthworms and ants would cure his fits. He was arrested after Wang Wenzhong, the village leader, found two blood stained rocks in the field and some fractured bones, before the boy's body was discovered buried nearby.