Father murders former lover and child in flat then commits suicide

A father is believed to have murdered his former lover and their four-month-old baby girl then committed suicide.

The three bodies lay undiscovered for more than a week at the woman's home in Bow.

It is thought the woman, 29, from Dublin, described as a "pretty, blonde single mother" and named locally as Margaret, was stabbed to death.

The man, 49, believed to be from Algeria, and the baby had suffered no obvious injuries and a post mortem examination will try to determine their cause of death later today.

Police went to the address after Tower Hamlets social services had called to find out why they had not seen Margaret and her child for several days. They found the bodies in three separate rooms. The council was unavailable for comment.

Detectives are treating it as a domestic murder-suicide.

Neighbours say the woman had only been living at the flat in Birchdown House, Rainhall Way, for about a month.

Neighbour Amanda Gunnel, 38, told the Standard: "I'm completely shocked. I knew Maggie for six months. She seemed very lonely when I first met her and we used to talk.

"She always seemed under pressure and used to be verbally abused a lot by her boyfriend. I think he's from Algeria and she used to complain that he would come and just take money off her.

"Maggie was from Blackrock in Dublin and she moved here to escape him. She was very pretty but her relationship with this man was a big problem.

"When he would verbally abuse her on the street she would try to shrug it off. He was quite a big geezer, about 6ft tall. She thought he was cheating.

"She missed Ireland and really wanted to go back but he was holding her back. I think her family couldn't accept that she was with him and had his baby.

"He would just show up when he was looking for money or somewhere to crash.

"She wanted out but he followed her. She mentioned that she used to work in a bar in Dublin and I think she met him through that. I'm going to miss her very much."

A Met spokesman said: "We retain an open mind regarding the circumstances at this early stage and the deaths are being t reated as suspicious at present."