A woman and her two young sons have been found dead at their home in north-west London in an apparent murder-suicide. The 33-year-old woman and boys aged five and seven months were discovered at a property in Woodgrange Close, Brent, at 5.20pm on Thursday. Police and paramedics were called to the address after reports of injuries, but the three were pronounced dead at the scene.
Scotland Yard said detectives are treating the deaths of the children as murder, while the woman's death is not being treated as suspicious. Officers have said they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. A post-mortem examination has given the woman's cause of death as compression of the neck, with examinations on the children expected to take place on Tuesday.
Neighbours spoke of their shock, describing how arguing was frequently heard from the first-floor flat. Tashma Brown, who lives next door, identified the couple as Sakthivel Vageswaran and his wife Jeyavani Vageswaran. She said: "She was a person you didn't see often. There was always shouting and arguing, three or four times in a month sometimes. Most of the time when they argued he would come outside to cool down."
Leslie Gotts, a resident of Woodgrange Close for 18 years, said the family, believed to be of Sri Lankan origin, had lived there for about a year. He was told by another neighbour that the children's father had found the bodies. "I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. You freeze. It's a quiet road, a very mixed community," he said.
Councillor Reg Colwill, who represents the Kenton ward, said: "I think everybody is the same – they are shocked at what has happened. If it's accurate that the woman took her own life she must have been at her wits' end and didn't ask for help, or didn't get the help she asked for."
A Brent council spokesman said the family were known to the council but declined to comment further while the investigation is at an early stage. Brown added that she heard the couple arguing before Christmas and that the woman sounded upset about the baby crying earlier this week. She said she now wants to move away.
