Real News
Parents Questioned After Girl, 8, Found Hanged in Bedroom
Tuesday September 15th, 2009
Times Online -- The parents of an eight-year-old girl have been questioned by police after she was found hanged in her bedroom.
Charlotte Avenall, who was known to social services, was found at 9.15am on Saturday. Her younger brother, Alex, 5, is being looked after by the local authority.
A source told The Times that Charlotte was known to a number of welfare agencies, including children and young people’s services at Nottinghamshire County Council.
The house in Mansfield was sealed for 24 hours for a full examination. While it was being searched,
Charlotte’s parents, Susan, 24, and Simon, 32, were being interviewed under caution but were not arrested. They were visited by police again last night.
It was not known if the death was being treated as suspicious or as an accident. A post-mortem examination conducted at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Saturday gave the cause of death as hanging.
Detective Superintendent Adrian Pearson, head of the Nottinghamshire Police public protection unit, said: “We are investigating the full circumstances of this death with our colleagues at children and young people’s services. Detectives have interviewed both the girl’s parents, while a five-year-old boy who was also living at the address has been taken into local authority care.
“The inquiry is at a very early stage and it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at present.”
A neighbour, Mohammed Sahib, 21, said: “The first I knew was when I heard the mother just screaming and crying her eyes out. I looked out of the bedroom window and could see the dad. His eyes were all watery. The paramedics were there, trying to comfort them. After a while the whole street was cordoned off. There were ambulances and police cars everywhere. It stayed like that for hours.
“It’s an awful tragedy and devastating for the parents, who always seemed pleasant. How are they going to recover from something like this?”
The family’s home, with a discarded glass cabinet in its concreted-over front garden, appeared deserted yesterday. Mr Sahib added: “They’re a very quiet family. They’ve lived here for about six years, and you’ll just see them coming and going with the kids.
“There are just the two little children. You would hear them laughing and playing in the back garden. They always seemed nice and happy. The girl went to the local primary school. I’m told she had a learning disability.”
Catherine Salmon, 34, who visited the house with her daughter Katie, 15, to leave flowers and a message of sympathy, said afterwards: “It’s very shocking. As a mum myself I can’t begin to imagine what the mother is going through. We often saw Charlotte when we went past the house, and she always used to say hello to us. She was such a chirpy little thing.”
A worker at a shop near to the house added: “Everyone is very upset.”
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