Police arrested a 22-year-old woman on suspicion of murder after the body of a four-year-old girl was found by officers called to her home at 1.40am today.
A police source confirmed that the arrested woman - believed to be the girl's mother - had made a call to the emergency services to report the death.
A phone box half a mile from the murder scene has been sealed off and was searched by scene-of-crime officers this morning.
The girl’s body was removed from the house on Oakdale Avenue, Wallasey, Merseyside, and a post-mortem examination will be carried out today to establish the cause of death.
A Merseyside Police statement said: “The investigation is in its early stages and crime scene investigators are at the address. House-to-house inquiries are also taking place."
Kayleigh Leathers, 23, a neighbour, said: “She was a lovely little girl. She was very bouncy and she would always shout ’Hi’ when she walked 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. You only ever saw them between 6pm and 9pm.”
She added: “I didn’t have a clue what was going on this morning - my mum woke me up, saying something was happening in the street. I was totally shocked."
James McManus, 67, who lives next door to the murder scene, described the victim’s mother as “a lonesome girl”.
He said: “I heard the baby laughing and joking and screaming when she woke up but not a word from her mum.
“She had been here for about two years and we never bothered each other.”
This morning, a small floral tribute had sprung up and a solitary police community support officer stood guard outside the red-brick semi-detached house, in an industrial part of Wallasey
Source:The times
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