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| Sex assault probe in lorry death | Sex assault probe in lorry death |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| A girl found strangled in her mother's boyfriend's lorry may have been sexually assaulted, police have said. | A girl found strangled in her mother's boyfriend's lorry may have been sexually assaulted, police have said. |
| Stacey Lawrence, nine, was found in the cab of the lorry on the A605 near Warmington in Northamptonshire on Saturday afternoon. | |
| Darren Walker, 40, from West Bromwich, was found dead in woods nearby. | Darren Walker, 40, from West Bromwich, was found dead in woods nearby. |
| Det Ch Insp Tricia Kirk of Northants Police said: "We cannot rule out now that there was some sexual touching involved in this incident." | |
| She added: "Darren Walker, who is the suspect for this offence, and as you know is also deceased, has a history of a domestic incident with his wife who's currently in the process of divorcing him. | She added: "Darren Walker, who is the suspect for this offence, and as you know is also deceased, has a history of a domestic incident with his wife who's currently in the process of divorcing him. |
| "He was cautioned for that offence and we have no other criminal records for him." | "He was cautioned for that offence and we have no other criminal records for him." |
| Black fabric | |
| It is believed Mr Walker murdered Stacey, also of West Bromwich, then hanged himself from a tree. | |
| Det Ch Insp Tricia Kirk said 'sexual touching' could not be ruled out | |
| Det Ch Insp Kirk added: "She was strangled with a ligature of black fabric, which is the same fabric as Walker used to hang himself. | |
| "It's some sort of strapping, we're trying to identify what it's actually used for." | |
| Mr Walker worked as a lorry driver for wholesale distribution firm AF Blakemore and Son, which delivers goods to Spar shops across the Midlands from a depot in Willenhall, West Midlands. | |
| Stacey had accompanied him on a trip to make deliveries in East Anglia. | |
| Police said the vehicle left the depot at 0400 BST on Friday and headed for Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. | |
| After making deliveries to Spar stores in the county, it was returning to the West Midlands when it stopped just outside Peterborough at about 1500 BST. | |
| It arrived in the lay-by in nearby Warmington shortly after 1535 BST. |