Marie Brown, a mother-of-two and her father Noel Brown were gruesomely murdered “over a big gambling win” and a murder investigation is underway. Their bodies were found inside a home in Deptford, south-east London.
Police discovered the 41-year-old nursery worker and her father after receiving a tip-off from a concerned member of public and burst through the front door. Reports from shocked neighbors of pensioner Mr Brown said they were awoken by “screaming” before he and his daughter were found, and one also said he saw a red car speeding away the house.
A family friend recounted how Ms Brown’s distraught daughter, who is thought to be nine-years-old and autistic, cried, saying: “Who is going to be my mother now?”
She said: “The little one said to me ‘Who is going to be my mother now?’ It’s heartbreaking. We have no idea how this can have happened. They were never in any trouble, just a decent family who no one had a bad word to say about. Marie was just a lovely person, they both were. The most caring people you could meet.”
Mr Brown, 69, was a regular in local bookmakers and officers believe he may have been targeted after landing a big win, with his daughter being killed after attempting to stop the perpetrators. Forensics were today seen at the scene of the murder handling a knife amid rumors the pair had their throats cut.
One woman, who refused to be named, said: “There are a lot of crackheads around here. I heard some petrified screaming but didn’t really think anything of it, I just closed my window and went back to sleep.
“I was told it’s like a horror movie in there, really gruesome. Noel was really nice though, very polite. He liked a gamble and a drink but he wouldn’t hurt a fly. He used to hang around outside the bookies with a group of guys I haven’t seen for a while.”
The CCTV footage has been removed from the local betting shops by police as inquiries continue.
Ms Brown’s best friend Lakisha Ross expressed her horror at the brutal killings, She posted on Facebook: “We’ve been best friends since the age of six. Speechless, devastated, numb and everything in between. Please bear with me as I take this all in. She was a huge piece of me, snatched and taken in one second. Please pray for her two daughters.”
