Mum kills daughter, tries to take own life

London: A mother has allegedly stabbed her four-year-old daughter to death before turning the knife on herself.

Dawn Makin, 33, is thought to have killed daughter Chloe at their home and then tucked her up in bed.

She then slashed her own wrists, drank toxic cleaning fluid and climbed into the bed beside her and waited to die.

But she was found unconscious after her distraught parents alerted neighbours and they broke down the door. On Friday, as Makin remained in a critical condition on a life support machine in hospital, police launched a murder investigation.

It emerged Makin, a trainee nurse, had split from Chloe's father, Michael Burke, 38, but had since been involved in another relationship. Burke said he and Makin both adored the little girl but they had separated.

He said: "We had a good relationship but we had just separated as we just grew apart — that's all."

Chloe was discovered on Thursday evening after police officers were called to a house in Bury following concerns for her welfare.

Burke said: "I got a telephone call about 12.30am. When I heard the news I just fell to bits.

"She was a bubbly girl, ginger, curly hair. She loved running around. She was a lovely little girl and I can't understand what has gone on. It is doing my head in. I just need to know what has happened."

Nathan Burke, 19, Chloe's stepbrother, said: "She was a nice girl with red hair and very bubbly.

"I'm just devastated that she's gone. Why anyone would do such a thing is unreal." Chloe's grandparents, Sheila and Derek Makin, who live just two doors from where the tragedy happened, are said to be devastated. The street was sealed off as forensic teams searched the house.