NEIGHBOURS on a close-knit estate are struggling to come to terms with the shocking and tragic murder of a mother and her six-year-old daughter.
The bodies of Nicole Batten, 34, and Ukleigha Batten-Froggat were discovered on Thursday after police smashed into their home in Somers Town. The authorities had been alerted because Ukleigha had not shown up at school throughout the week – she was last seen by teachers when she was picked up from school the previous Friday. Police imposed a news blackout on the double-killing until yesterday (Wednesday) when they appealed for help in tracking down their prime suspect who, it is understood, was living with the family and had just been released from prison.
A post-mortem examination carried out at St Pancras mortuary revealed Ms Batten had died from a stab wound and her daughter from asphyxiation. Last night (Wednesday) friends staged a vigil at Levita House in Ossulston Street where the family lived. They built a shrine with teddy bears, pictures and flowers.

TORY chiefs yesterday (Wednesday) savaged proposals by the Town Hall to fine parents £50 if their children turn up late for school or miss lessons.
Under new proposals being hammered out by the council’s education department, mothers and fathers will be hit with £50 fines if they are snared in the council’s clampdown on truancy.
Tory Party leader Councillor Piers Wauchope said: “Children who commit truancy often come from the poorest families and are often at their wits end with children out of control.”

THE divisive row over Camden Council’s handling of major planning applications in King’s Cross intensified this week when the Town Hall’s most senior lawyer called for an end to wildfire rumour on the dispute.
Furious Alison Lowton, the borough solicitor, said that journalists should stick to factual statements distributed by the council’s press office instead of reporting speculation.
The unrest follows Ms Lowton’s reporting of planning chairman Councillor Brian Woodrow to the council watchdog, the Standards Board of England and Wales.

HE is one of the most eye-catching footballers of his generation, the soccer superstar who helped Chelsea’s team of multi-million pound players soar past Barcelona and into the Champions League Quarter-Finals on Tuesday night.
But Joe Cole’s latest ambition is a world away from his pursuit of football glory. The 23 year-old – a former student of Haverstock School in Chalk Farm – wants to open a minicab firm in a Camden Town back street.
Cole has asked Camden Council for permission to convert a building in Arlington Road into new offices for family-run, Meter Cars.

A DRUG mule nearly died in a Camden police cell after doctors at University College London Hospital failed to remove all of the cocaine packets hidden in his stomach, it emerged this week.
The full story of how West Hampstead mother-of-two Suzanne Idehen saved Dutch drug mule Anthony Johnson’s life was revealed last night (Wednesday), when the Independent Custody Visitors Camden Panel published its annual report.