Woman and child murdered in village

Their attacker, a 44-year-old man believed to be the woman's partner or ex-partner, then killed himself at the house in Holbrook.

Police said they received a call from a concerned neighbour at about 11am yesterday and when officers arrived at the cottage in Well Yard they discovered the 38-year-old woman and the man dead.

The child was critically injured and taken by air ambulance to Royal Derby Hospital where he later died, Derbyshire Constabulary added.

Neighbours were last night discussing the grim discovery at the cottage, tucked back from the main road that runs through the picturesque village.

Lined with trees and well-kept gardens, Holbrook is in a conservation area in the heart of Amber Valley, Derbyshire.

Detectives said they were not looking for anybody else in connection with the deaths, described by one woman in the village as a "terrible tragedy".

Andrew West-Hunt, 52, landlord of the Spotted Cow, said the woman was a regular visitor to the pub having moved in to the area after living abroad as an ex-pat in France or Spain.

He said: "She was intelligent and obviously educated. She said she had looked at a couple of places and then settled on one here."

His wife Fiona West-Hunt added: "All the police cars came around 11am-11.30am, about three ambulances and a helicopter. They just turned up out of the blue, loads of sirens and everything, which doesn't happen here. It's a very small, sleepy place.

"Somebody was walking their dog past and all they saw was somebody bringing a child out of a house and into an ambulance. Another ambulance arrived and didn't go for about half an hour."

Neighbour Allan Gilbert described the woman as "jovial". He said: "We knew absolutely nothing about what happened until the cavalry.

"The woman lived there with the baby. They hadn't been there long but would say hello. We didn't hear anything and we live only ten yards away. It sounds like one of those domestic tragedies."