Community ‘standing shoulder to shoulder’ after murders

Community leaders have urged people to pull together and “keep talking” to find a way through the tragedy of a double murder on their doorsteps.

Ward councillor for St Paul’s Pete Williams said residents were closing ranks against the spotlight of the national media, which they believe are trying to paint the area as the nation’s capital for murders by teenagers.
A boy and a girl, both just 14, appeared in court on Monday charged with killing Liz Edwards (49) and her 13-year-old daughter Katie.
A special assembly was held at Spalding’s Sir John Gleed School, where Katie was a year eight student, on Monday morning.
Coun Williams said the assembly was a “sombre” affair, but Katie’s classmates and friends were being helped to deal with their grief.
He said: “Everyone is pulling together.
“The St Paul’s estate has that old-fashioned sense of community.
“I have lived in Spalding for 19 years and in that time the estate has changed unbelievably – the people have worked hard to lift it out of the reputation of being a bad area.
“It’s now an area where the houses are well maintained and the gardens are full of flowers, not rusting old bikes.
“The people take pride in the area and are closing ranks now against the national media who seem hellbent on dragging the area down and painting it as a teenage murder capital.
“Everyone is devastated by what has happened and are saying what lovely people Liz and Katie were. They say they lived for each other.
“Now we need to take all the positives we can from this awful situation and use it to open a positive dialogue about what we can do together to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“It’s a chance for the community to knit together, become stronger and work together.
“I have been knocking on doors, talking to people and telling them that the council is on their side and we will do anything we can to help.”
The St Paul’s estate suffered a similar unrelated tragedy in August 2014 when 42-year-old Warren Free died after being hit with a metal pole, kicked and stamped on.
In July 2015, six teenagers aged between 15 and 17 were cleared of murdering him.