This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Two 14-year-olds have been charged with murder after a woman and her daughter were found dead at a house in Lincolnshire.

The victims, named by police as 49-year-old Elizabeth Edwards and her 13-year-old daughter, Katie, were found at the property in Dawson Avenue, Spalding, on Friday afternoon.

The two youths will appear at Lincoln magistrates court on Monday.



One resident living close to Edwards’ semi-detached property said she last saw the victim on Tuesday. The neighbour, who declined to be named, said: “She was a lovely lady, very friendly and I knew her quite well.

“She was quite well-known because she worked at a primary school and what has happened is just unbelievable. Katie was lovely too but very quiet.”

Flowers and a teddy bear had been placed on the front lawn of the house by friends of the family, as forensic experts continued to examine the inside of the property.

A Lincolnshire police spokesman said the victims had not been formally identified, although they were “believed to be 49-year-old Elizabeth Edwards and her 13-year-old daughter Katie”.

DCI Martin Holvey, of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said postmortem examinations had not yet taken place to determine the cause of death.

He added: “I still need to speak to anyone with any information that might be relevant from Dawson Avenue from around noon on Wednesday 13 April to noon on Friday 15 April. If you saw or heard anything that you thought was suspicious or unusual I’d encourage you to get in touch as soon as possible.”

Superintendent Paul Timmins said the deaths had generated a great deal of local concern and upset.

He said: “I would like to make clear that this type of crime is extremely rare. Indeed, we believe this is a completely isolated incident. There is still a lot of police activity in the area and extra officers in the neighbourhood and I would encourage anyone who has any concerns to please talk to our officers.”

He added: “This is very much an active investigation that is in its early stages and police would like people not to speculate as to the circumstances surrounding it. We are looking at a number of lines of inquiry and doing our utmost to get to the bottom of what has happened.”

Anyone with information to assist the inquiry is urged to contact police directly on 101 or pass information anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.