A 13-year-old girl has appeared in court charged with murder and arson after the body of a woman was found in a house in Northamptonshire.
The teenager, who appeared in the dock clutching a teddy bear, was remanded in custody at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday charged with the murder of mother-of-three Marta Bednarczyk.
Police have said the 43-year-old victim, whose body was discovered at a property in Newcomen Road, Wellingborough, shortly after 3am on Monday, is believed to have died as a result of sharp force injury.
Police in Wellingborough’s Newcomen Road (Joe Giddens/PA)
The girl, who cannot be named because of her age, also faces a charge of arson with intent to endanger life at the address in Newcomen Road.
She spoke only to confirm her name and date of birth during a four-minute hearing before three magistrates, and was remanded into secure detention accommodation.
Ordering the girl to appear before Her Honour Judge Adrienne Lucking KC at Northampton Crown Court on Wednesday afternoon, chairman of the bench Kevin Walsh told the girl that she was being remanded in custody because of the nature of the charges.
He told the teenager: “You are going to be seen by a judge in the Crown Court at two o’clock.”
Forensic officers are continuing inquiries at a property in Newcomen Road, which was attended by firefighters in the early hours of Monday.
A section of the street, comprising terraced homes and near to an Aldi supermarket and a Matalan shop, remained behind police tape on Wednesday, with multiple uniformed officers and marked cars at the scene, along with a fire service car.