Two arrested over Leonie's hit-and-run death

Police investigating the death of a six-year-old girl who was left dying in the street after she was hit by a car today arrested two people.

Schoolgirl Leonie Shaw was fatally injured as she was struck by a Rover 827si and flung on to the opposite carriageway as she crossed the road to buy sweets a few hundred yards from her home in Bishop Auckland, Co Durham.

Police had taken the unusual step of naming a man and woman believed to have been in the car at the time of the incident on Saturday night.

A Durham police spokesman said a couple were arrested shortly after 10am today in the Middlesbrough area by officers from Cleveland police acting on information from a member of the public.

The two were taken to Middlesbrough police station and they will be transferred to Bishop Auckland where they were expected to be questioned this afternoon.

Detective Inspector Dave Hammond today said police were not looking for anyone else in connection with the Leonie's death.

Forensic and mechanical tests were expected to be carried out on a turquoise car which was found abandoned in Teesside yesterday.

Leonie's mother Michelle was too upset to face the media today, a Durham Police spokesman said, but she wanted to thank the public for their messages of help.

The spokesman said today: "We have been specifically asked by Leonie's mum Michelle to say a special 'thank you' to the scores of people who have offered messages of support and sympathy in the wake of Saturday night's tragedy.

"Michelle is currently being comforted by close relatives and is not receiving visitors."

The spokesman said today Leonie lived with her mother, and sisters Jade, 10, and three-year-old Emily.

Most watched News videos