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Mother is held over girl's death | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
The mother of a four-year-old girl found dead at their home in Merseyside has has been arrested on suspicion of her murder. | |
The child was removed from the house, in Oakdale Avenue in Wallasey, by police officers in the early hours. | |
A post-mortem examination was due to be carried out later. Forensic scientists were at the scene collecting evidence. | |
A telephone box about half a mile from the murder scene has been linked to the investigation. | |
The box, at the junction of Brentwood Street and Poulton Road, was searched by officers earlier. | |
James McManus, 67, who lives next door to the house where the child was found, said he had heard the girl "laughing and joking and screaming" when she had woken up. | |
'Lovely little girl' | |
Mark Lamb, 33, was staying at Mr McManus's house on Tuesday night when police arrived. | Mark Lamb, 33, was staying at Mr McManus's house on Tuesday night when police arrived. |
He said: "I just heard police in the early hours, knocking on the door saying, 'it's the police, let us in'. | |
"A lady came to the door, they went in, a few more things were said, then the next minute, six or seven police cars arrived and an ambulance." | |
A floral tribute has been laid by neighbours outside the house | |
Kayleigh Leathers, 23, a neighbour, paid tribute to the four-year-old. | |
She said: "She was a lovely little girl. She was very bouncy and she would always shout 'hi' when she would walk past. | |
"Her mum kept them to themselves, and there were only the two of them there in the house. | |
"Every now and again, you would see a man there who I thought was her partner. | |
"She kept the girl in her pram and took her out an awful lot late at night. | |
"You heard her screaming at her a bit, but I thought that was just like any other child. | |
"I'm flabbergasted." | |
Neighbours and local residents have laid a small floral tribute outside the house. | |
Wirral social services expressed their condolences to the community but said "given the early nature of the police investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time". |