Woman held over murder of Toni-Ann

Detectives investigating the murder of seven-year-old Toni-Ann Byfield and her father have arrested a 28-year-old woman.

Police held the suspect at an address in north London last night. She is being questioned at a police station in the area.

Toni-Ann and her father Bertram Byfield, 41, were shot in his bedsit on Harrow Road, Kensal Green on 14 September.

Police have said Jamaican Toni-Ann, who was killed a day before she was due to start a new school, was shot once in the back as she tried to flee her killer.

Her father, a convicted drug dealer known as Toney, died from multiple gunshot wounds. A 23-year-old man arrested last week in connection with the murder inquiry has been bailed until October but remains in custody on suspicion of immigration offences.

Toni-Ann arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 2000 and had been staying with relatives in Birmingham.

A ward of court to Birmingham Social Services, she had been staying with her father for the weekend at the time of the attack.

Mr Byfield, a Briton raised in Jamaica, served nine years in a British prison for dealing crack cocaine. A year ago, he survived a similar shooting.

Birmingham social services have admitted that the girl was exposed to risk when she stayed with her father. Yesterday an inquest was opened into her death.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Basu, of Operation Trident, told Hornsey Coroners' Court neighbours heard shouting and a disturbance at Mr Byfield's home.

The neighbour called police and the sounds of four explosions were heard. Police arrived to find the front door had been forced open - and the bodies of Toni-Ann and her father inside.