Mother questioned over girl's death
Detectives are questioning a young woman on suspicion of murdering her four-year-old daughter.
The 22-year-old woman, who has not been named, left her home in Wallasey, Merseyside, in the early hours of the morning to report the child's death from a phone box nearly half a mile away.
She was arrested at the scene of the girl's death on Oakdale Avenue as neighbours were awoken by sirens and blue flashing lights.
Mark Lamb, 33, who was staying at a friend's house next door, recalled the scene he witnessed shortly before 2am on Wednesday.
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.
"I saw the lady handcuffed and taken into a police car about 20 minutes later. After that forensics came and a doctor, and I got the impression the baby was dead.
"The girl said 'I think she is dead'. And the police said 'Who is dead, where?' They went further into the house and I couldn't hear more of the conversation."
Neighbours said the woman and her child - who she still pushed round in a pram - had lived there for two years, yet no one knew them. Several residents said the woman "kept herself to herself".
Kayleigh Leathers, 23, 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."
Wirral social services expressed condolences to the community but a spokesman said it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time "given the early nature of the police investigation".
