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Dead girl was sexually assaulted Dead girl was sexually assaulted
(10 minutes later)
A nine-year-old girl was sexually assaulted before being strangled by her mother's boyfriend, forensic tests have revealed. A nine-year-old girl was sexually assaulted before being strangled by her mother's boyfriend who then hanged himself, forensic tests have revealed.
The bodies of Stacey Lawrence and Darren Walker, 40, both from the West Midlands, were discovered in a lay-by at Warmington, Northamptonshire. The body of Stacey Lawrence, from the West Midlands, was found in the cab of Darren Walker's lorry in a lay-by at Warmington, Northamptonshire.
Stacey was found in the lorry cab while Walker's body was hanging from a tree in nearby woodland, on 29 August. Mr Walker, 40, was hanging from a tree in nearby woodland.
It is thought Walker strangled Stacey and then killed himself. It is thought he strangled Stacey then killed himself on 29 August. There was no evidence she was raped, police said.
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 28 August 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.
Stacey's mother Roxanne last heard from Mr Walker some time between 1930 and 2000 BST that night.
A Northamptonshire Police spokesman said: "The forensic results are back and they did confirm that there was evidence of a sexual assault which is what most people expected, obviously before the little girl died."