A mother-of-two stabbed to death while trying to fight off intruders trying to break into her family’s home as her children watched on in horror had moved to Australia to start a better life – as new details emerge about her final moments.
Emma Lovell, 41, and her husband Lee, 43, were inside their North Lakes home, north of Brisbane, on Monday night when intruders allegedly forced their way inside.
The Lovells confronted them, and a scuffle allegedly broke out on the front porch, with neighbours woken by their daughters’ frantic screams.
Mrs Lovell sustained wounds to her chest and died at the scene, despite desperate attempts by paramedics to revive her with a lifesaving surgery procedure known as a thoracotomy.
Queensland Police said two 17-year-olds have been arrested and are expected to be charged with murder later on Tuesday afternoon, and attempted murder.
Photos posted online just hours earlier show the family enjoying Christmas Day at the beach
Her life was cut short just hours after celebrating Christmas Day with her family at the beach and returning from a holiday on the Sunshine Coast.
Her husband Lee suffered non-life-threatening wounds to his back and was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Shocked residents recalled being woken by the frantic screams of Mrs Lovell’s daughters’ yelling ‘someone help my mum, help my mum’ as one neighbour rushed to her aid.
‘He heard all the screaming, the guy next door, to the left, rushed over and tried to help but the dad was already on the phone to the police and ambulance,’ neighbour, Jay Balhatchet told the Courier Mail.
‘I witnessed the ambulances trying to help the mum on the front lawn.
‘There was stuff everywhere … from all the things that were left on the front lawn. The whole way it ended, it shouldn’t end up that way.’
Ms Lovell’s distraught children were later seen ‘carrying their dogs and stuff to the ambulance that their dad was in’.
‘They went off with him. I think they were in shock. They were in tears,’ Mr Balhatchet said.
He described Mr Lovell’s condition as ‘severe’.
‘The dad was still bad but he had enough time to call everyone.’
Originally from the UK, the couple fell in love when they first came to Australia in 2002 as they travelled along the east coast.
Within ten years, the couple had welcomed two daughters and returned to Australia to call Down Under their permanent home.
Mr Lovell’s social media is filled with photos of his family enjoying Queensland’s beaches and warm weather.
On a post about a visit to a distillery on Tamborine Mountain in the Gold Coast hinterland in February 2013, Mr Lovell recommended the lifechanging move to interested friends back in the UK.
While it cost thousands to set up their new life, the Lovells had no regrets.
‘It is amazing over here, being able to go to the beach, swim in warm water, using free BBQs etc, but it’s hard not being around friends and family,’ Mr Lovell wrote.
‘We only have one life, so go for it and don’t have any regrets.
It can be expensive to get here but as a tradie you can earn good money, just be ready to start work early and I mean 6am if not earlier, but then you get to leave 3pmish.
‘Oz is a big place but Brisbane is a pretty good place to be, the weather is bearable and we’re not too far from the sunshine coast or gold coast, both have really good beaches and family friendly.
Mr Lovell added within the comments their eldest daughter had just started kindergarten at the time and would start school the following year.
‘Emma and I came out here travelling in 2002 and mainly done the east coast so we had a pretty good idea of what it was going to be like,’ he wrote.
‘Don’t be put off though because first time on a beach and seeing how happy (and getting red) your kids are it’ll all be worth it.’
Emma Lovell, 41, was allegedly murdered trying to defend her North Lakes home from intruders on Boxing Day
Whitfield Crescent in North Lakes remained a crime scene on Tuesday morning
Heartbroken locals placed tributes to their ‘beautiful friend’ Emma on Tuesday morning
Shattered neighbours have placed notes and floral tributes outside the cordoned-off home.
‘We are so incredibly sorry our beautiful friends,’ one note read.
‘We are truly heartbroken for your beautiful family. Thinking of you at this tragic time.’
The front yard is strewn with debris from the violent altercation and desperate efforts by paramedics to save Ms Lovell’s life.
Police allege two intruders fled the scene on foot.
Queensland Police told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday four men are currently assisting with their inquiries. No arrests or charges have been laid.
Shattered neighbours were seen placing tributes outside the home on Tuesday morning
Police are expected to spend much of Tuesday at the cordoned off home where Emma Lovell died while fighting off two intruders
Mrs Lovell had moved to Australia from England alongside her husband, and was enjoying bringing up her children down under before her tragic death.
Just hours before the incident, Mr Lovell posted on Facebook to wish his family and friends a Merry Christmas.
‘So for the first time in 11 years we spent Christmas day on the beach and even managed to cook up some bacon and eggs!’ Mr Lovell wrote online.
‘Hope everyone has a great Christmas day spent with loved ones and friends.’
He also shared photos of the family enjoying their Christmas with relatives at Point Cartwright Headland on the Sunshine Coast.
Tributes have started flowing for Ms Lovell as devastated friends flocked online after hearing the news.
A friend said Mrs Lovell was ‘such a beautiful person’.
‘My heart is broken,’ she wrote in a post online.
Another friend said: ‘She was so lovely. I’m completely saddened.’
Mrs Lovell’s husband Lee (pictured together) suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the attack
Debris from the violent altercation was seen strewn across the front yard on Tuesday morning
Police remained at the North Lakes home on Tuesday gathering evidence
Neighbours recalled waking up to the frantic screams of Emma Lovell’s daughters late Monday night (pictured, police at the crime scene)
Neighbours described Whitfield Crescent in North Lakes as a ‘nice little street’ (pictured, Emma Lovell’s cordoned off home)
Forensic officers spent the night at the cordoned-off home scouring for evidence and remained there early Tuesday morning
Heartbroken residents woke up to the tragic news about their friends Emma Lovell (pictured, friends placing floral tributes at the scene)
Others sent their condolences to Mr Lovell and their children as they come to terms with the loss of their wife and mother.
‘We are terribly sorry. This is devastating,’ one woman said.
‘Please reach out to us if we can assist in any way.’
The men assisting police were seen at the scene dressed in forensic suits speaking with officers before they were escorted to police vans and driven away.
Police have set up a crime scene and launched a homicide investigation.
Forensic officers spent the night at the cordoned-off home scouring for evidence and remained there early Tuesday morning.
The late night Boxing Day tragedy in what’s been described as a ‘nice little street’ has shocked neighbours.
Four men are assisting with police with their inquiries after a woman died during a violent home invasion on Monday night
‘This is incredible, I’ve never seen so many police cars,’ Leanne Bryce told Channel Nine.
‘This is really scary stuff. This is a little too close to home I think. I had no idea, no idea at all. so I think I’ll keep the dog nice and close over the next few days.’
Ben O’Connor woke up late Monday night to find multiple police and ambulance vehicles in his street.
‘When I woke up and my wife got me up and there was a woman laying at the front of the lawn,’ he told the Courier Mail.
‘It’s just frightening, you read and hear about it on the news but you wouldn’t think it would happen a few doors down.’
Police urge anyone with information or footage to contact Crime Stoppers.
Police inquiries into the Boxing Day tragedy at the North Lakes home continue
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