BOXING DAY MURDER: Body of woman, 29, found at home - man arrested appears in court

A MAN has appeared in court charged with the murder of a woman in Newham.

Yahya Aboukar, 26, of Earlham Grove, Forest Gate, appeared in custody at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, December 28 charged with the murder of 29-year-old Kirsty Louise Ashley (above).

Aboukar was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on Friday, December 31.

Police were called to an address in Earlham Grove at approximately 11:55pm on Boxing Day, Sunday, December 26.

Inside the address they found her body.

Next of kin were informed and formal identification has taken place.

A post-mortem examination took place on Monday, December 27 at East Ham Mortuary and gave the cause of death as blunt force trauma.

She grew up in Scunthorpe and family said they had not heard from her after she "fell in with the wrong crowd." A Met Police spokesman said: "The defendant and the deceased were known to each other." Homicide detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime Command are investigating. Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 or tweet @MetCC and quote CAD2000/26Dec. You can also speak to the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

It comes after a woman was separately charged with the attempted murder of a child on Christmas Eve.

Lisa Shackleton, 38, of Woodhouse Way, Keighley, West Yorkshire, was arrested on Friday after a child was found injured at an address in the town.

Police said the child was taken to hospital with serious injuries but is now believed to be in a stable condition.

Ms Shackleton is due to appear before Bradford Magistrates' Court.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: "The investigation remains ongoing with Bradford District Police."