A wedding planner and her 11-year-old daughter have been killed in the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday and police have launched a double murder investigation, MailOnline can reveal today.
Laura Boon, 31, and her eldest child Ella – who she described as her ‘bestie’ and ‘princess’ – have been named locally as being found dead at home in Gloucester.
Neighbours said they were woken by a ‘loud bang’ just before the emergency services were called to a property in the city at 4.50am.
A 28-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder but police have not said if he was held at the scene or had fled.
Phillica Tabanor, 20, a support worker who lived next door to Laura, said: ‘I wasn’t at home when it happened, but my mum called me this morning to say some one had been killed.
‘When I saw which house it was I thought, “oh my God”. It has to be them, she’s the only one that lived at that house and she had an 11-year-old daughter’.
Laura Boon, 31, and her eldest daughter Ella, 11, have been named locally as the mother and child found dead in Gloucester this morning
A tent has been erected outside the house where a woman and an 11-year-old girl were found murdered this morning
Tributes have poured in today with Facebook friends calling mother and daughter ‘angels’.
Laura Boon was a much-loved mother of three and a successful wedding planner in the West Country
Three days ago friends suggested that she had a few tough months and would one day ‘get the man you deserve’ and was ‘better off without that s***’.
She responded thanking people for their support.
‘When you get supportive random messages they lift you and make you realise who you are what you have achieved and that I don’t only help myself I help other people out there’, she said.
She added: ‘Yes I’ve had another s*** year but bring it on nothing could ever bring me down when I have hit the top I’m staying right there I absolutely love life’.
Ms Boon is believed to have married her husband Chris Boon, 28, last year and had two children together. Ella has a different father.
The couple were together at Christmas but appear to have split in the spring.
In February Laura hinted at the turmoil in her private life.
She said: ‘These last couple of weeks I thought I lost my confidence when in fact it’s the complete opposite , I absolutely LOVE ME and I won’t change a thing!!! I love my heart , my body , my face , my life!!!!
‘Cosmetic surgery appointments all cancelled, a smile is the most beautiful thing a lady can wear and if anyone has been through the same s*** as me this year then don’t ever think you are worthless, ugly, fat or anything less than amazing!!!’.
Tributes have poured in for the popular wedding planner and her child, who ran Sweet Beginnings, a bridal wear and venue decor company.
Amy Harris wrote: ‘In such shock and completely gutted to hear the devastating news I have no words. Laura Boon I’m so sorry rest in peace to you and your daughter. This feels so wrong’.
Sophie Mitchell said: ‘RIP Laura Boon and your beautiful daughter. what an inspiration you were to us women’.
Sheryl Fish, who worked in the wedding industry with her, said: ‘Hug your loved ones closer today. RIP Laura Boon and Ella. What a waste of life’.
Laura Bloom added: ‘RIP Laura Boon & your daughter Ella! Absolutely tragic!!!!! Really feel for your other 2 little princesses now to be left without their mummy & big sister! Just awful news. What an evil sick man!!!’.
Laura had been open about turmoil in her private life before she died. Two weeks ago she posted about how excited Ella was to have her own beauty bar
A 28-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a 31-year-old woman and an 11-year-old girl in Gloucester
Police were called to a house in the city at 4.50am and found the woman and child dead.
Officers have cordoned off a large area around a house in Dexter Way, Gloucester, as well as a pathway leading to the nearby River Severn.
Police have erected a forensics tent outside and were seen looking under vans and carrying out fingertip searches of the pavement.
April McMillan, 23, a support worker who lives in a block of flats on Dexter Way, said: ‘I woke up at 4.30am this morning hearing a loud bang.
‘I didn’t think anything of it because we’ve had road works around and there’s been lots of bangs, but this one was on it’s own.
‘I stayed awake for another two hours and didn’t hear anything more.
‘There are lots of police about, it’s very shocking – I can’t believe it.
‘I know it was just round the corner but police haven’t told us anything.
‘Everyone is lovely round here, I didn’t expect this at all.’
Kelly Fraser, 31, was walking her dog with Emily Coyne on a nearby riverside path and had to take an alternative route due to the cordon.
‘We feel shocked,’ she said.
‘We don’t know them but down the bottom it’s quite a community.
‘There are always kids out playing. It just seems so sad. This is not a bad area.
‘You really feel for the people involved.’
Brothers Bradley Warren, 21, and Byron Warren, 20, were stuck outside the cordon this morning.
Bradley said: ‘We haven’t been told anything about what’s happening.
‘We live right in the middle of the cordon. At about 5am there were police cars coming one by one. I noticed the top window of one of the houses was wide open.’
Police were seen looking under vans and carrying out fingertip searches of the pavement
They were also paying particular attention to an area under a silver van at the scene
A Gloucestershire Police spokesman said in a statement: ‘At 4.50am today, Monday May 28, police were called to an address in Dexter Way, Gloucester where it was reported that two people had been seriously injured.
‘A 31-year-old woman and an 11-year-old girl were declared dead at the scene.
‘A 28-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of the woman and the girl.
‘Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Gloucestershire Constabulary on 101 quoting incident 73 of May 28.
‘Cordons will remain in place at locations linked to the investigation while our inquiries continue. No further details are available at this time.’
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