Girl 'killed by mother's partner'

Stacey Lawrence regarded trips with Darren Walker as "a treat"

A nine-year-old girl whose body was discovered in a shop-chain's lorry on Saturday was killed by her mother's long-term boyfriend, police believe.

Stacey Lawrence, from West Bromwich in the West Midlands, was found strangled at a lorry park on the A605 near Warmington in Northamptonshire.

Darren Walker, aged 40 and also from West Bromwich, was found hanged in nearby woodland.

Detectives said they were treating the case as a murder-suicide.

Stacey had accompanied Mr Walker as he made deliveries to Spar stores in Norfolk on Friday.

Lorry missing

Det Ch Insp Tricia Kirk said Stacey had regarded the trip as a treat and her mother had no concerns before her death.

We are not aware of any medical conditions and we are not aware of any family arguments Det Ch Insp Tricia Kirk

Ms Kirk added: "Our investigation is to try and find out what led to this tragic event taking place.

"At the moment, we are treating it as a murder-suicide. We believe the little girl was murdered and the man then committed suicide.

"We are not aware of any medical conditions and we are not aware of any family arguments."

Police had been alerted after the truck's owners reported the vehicle missing on Saturday afternoon.

The Spar delivery vehicle was then traced to a lorry park on the A605 near Warmington and was discovered next to a Jet filling station.

Darren Walker was in a long-term relationship with Stacey's mother

Police said the cab of the lorry was not locked and officers found the body of the girl in the cab.

Officers tried to resuscitate her, and shortly afterwards found Mr Walker's body hanging by a cord in woodland.

The route the lorry took has been released by detectives in a bid to find witnesses.

It left its depot in Willenhall in the West Midlands, during the early hours of Friday.

From there it went straight to Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where it made deliveries to Spar stores.

On its return towards the Midlands, the lorry stopped near Peterborough at about 1500 BST before arriving at the layby in Warmington, near the Cambridgeshire border, at about 1535 BST.

Ms Kirk said: "It will have spent a great deal of time in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire during daylight hours, particularly on the A47, so I'm hopeful we will get some good information about its movements during the day."

The lorry has now been removed from the lay-by station.

Both bodies were taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary on Saturday night for post-mortem examinations.