Neighbours left shocked after mother and young toddler found dead

Neighbours have paid tribute to a “lovely” young mother and her toddler son who were found dead at an address in Ipswich.

The pair, named by police as 19-year-old Kia Russell and her two-year-old son Kamari, were found on Wednesday and treated by paramedics but died at the scene.

Suffolk Police said initial inquiries suggest there is “no third-party involvement”.

A 17-year-old boy who was arrested has been bailed to return to police at the end of the month.

Former neighbour Lisa Horne, 39, described Ms Russell as “lovely”, saying: “She always kept herself to herself.

“She was in the garden with her son, or when we were doing the car she was there with hers. She always said ‘Morning’ or ‘Hello’. It’s a bit of a shock.”

She continued: “Every time we were out here she was polite.

“We were here for about a year-and-a-half before we moved at Christmas. She was lovely.

“I just feel at a loss, at such a young age for both of them, no life at all really.”

Another woman who left a bouquet for Kia said: “She was just a lovely girl. Just a lovely, bubbly girl, always giggling.”

Her friend, whose sister was friends with Kia at school, said she was “always happy”, adding: “She was a good mum, a very good mum.”

The Reverend Mary Sokanovic, priest in charge of the parish of Whitton with Thurleston and Akenham, said: “It’s absolutely distressing. There aren’t words for it.”

Describing the area, she said: “It’s a very mixed and varied parish with all sorts of people living here, all sorts of people striving to make a good life and doing the best they can.

“The same as many communities, there’s people that do very well, there’s people that struggle, it’s a very mixed community.”