Mothers' feud leaves one dead

A five year dispute between neighbouring mothers was behind a knife attack which killed one woman and left two others injured, it emerged today.

Only hours before the attack one of the victims had pleaded with her local council to be re-housed as she feared the feud would worsen, according to friends.

But part-time carer Andrea Spencer, 43, was still at her home with two of her four daughters when an upstairs neighbour and her daughter burst into the flat armed with knives, they said.

A family friend, who had just taken away Miss Spencer's two younger daughters for their safety, died after being caught up in the assault in south London. She is believed to have been in her thirties but has not yet been named by police. Miss Spencer was stabbed in the stomach while one of her daughters, 22-year-old Stacey, is believed to have had a finger cut off while trying to protect her mother. Both are in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

Residents of the council block in Camberwell where the attack took place said Miss Spencer had been hit with a bat the night before. Police said a woman was arrested the next day and released on bail. Miss Spencer had approached Southwark council the same morning to ask to be re-housed, with no success. The attack took place that evening.

A neighbour at Mayward House in Peckham Road, said: "All you could hear were the screams of terror."

Southwark council would not comment. Scotland Yard said two women were still being questioned.