Police were called to the scene on Sunday evening after neighbours heard a woman screaming for help. The baby girl died at the scene, while the boy succumbed to his injuries later in hospital.
A 40-year-old man — believed to be known to the children — was also hospitalised with stab wounds. The Metropolitan Police said that they are not currently looking for a suspect. However, an investigation into the murders has been launched.
Neighbours reported horrific screaming coming from an apartment and that later a woman in her mid-30s — believed to be of Asian descent — emerged from the building with police officers.
“I heard a woman screaming: ‘Help me.’ It sounded like she was being tortured. I knew something horrible must have happened, it went on for about ten minutes,” a local mother named Reshna told The Times.
She said that when she saw medics carrying a “little body” in a bag from the scene that her “heart just sank”.
“It’s devastating, horrific. From a mother’s perspective… I’m still shaken from it, I can’t imagine what she feels at the moment,” she lamented.
Another neighbour in Ilford said that “a man and woman lived above the shops with their two children. They were happy smiley kids, they were only 12 months and three years old. They were just happy playful children.”
Leader of the local Redbridge Council, Jas Athwal wrote: “Two young children have passed away and an investigation is ongoing. My thoughts are with the family and wider community.”
Since the start of the year, there have been 21 fatal stabbings in the British capital, six of which occurred in the Redbridge area.
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