Killer guns down father and daughter in bedsit

A KILLER who shot dead a father and daughter was being hunted by British police last night.

Scotland Yard said the 41-year-old man and seven-year-old girl were found suffering with gunshot wounds in a bedsit in Harrow Road in northwest London.

Both criminal and domestic motives were being considered, police said.

Officers entered the two-room bedsit just after midnight after neighbours reported a disturbance. The victims, who were black, were taken to separate west London hospitals where they later died. Police ruled out suicide.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Freeman said: "We have to keep an open mind. Clearly this is a very serious incident, particularly with the death of a seven-year-old child, but undue speculation is unhelpful at this early stage.

"We have not ruled out any line of inquiry crime, domestic, or any other motive. It is simply too early to say why this tragedy occurred."

Officers had cordoned off around 100 metres of Harrow Road. A fingertip search of the area was being carried out while other officers diverted traffic and passers-by, and guarded the taped up doorway of the house where the bodies were found.

One woman, who lives round the corner, but did not wish to be named, said she had always thought of the area as safe.

She said: "I've lived here for two years and there has been trouble but it's never affected me."

Jonathan Davis, 30, an IT operations manager from Notting Hill, said he passed through the area regularly.

"They call this murder mile. This area quite frequently has police around it and I think there is quite a lot of crime but it doesn't touch most of the residents. It's very unusual for a family to be affected."

A police source said officers were trying to track down the child's mother. They were unsure whether the girl was a permanent resident.