Bedfont, Hounslow: Deaths of mum and two children from Wlodarczyk family being treated as murder

The deaths of a mum and her two children are being treated as murder after they were found dead alongside her husband.

Monika Wlodarczyk, 35, as well as their daughter Maja Wlodarczyk, 11, and son Dawid Wlodarczyk, 3, all suffered a series of stab wounds at their family home.

Michal Wlodarczyk, 39, died from stab wounds to his neck, Scotland Yard said. The force says no one else is being sought in connection with the incident.

The family-of-four were discovered at their flat in Hounslow, west London, last Friday afternoon after the alarm was raised by Maja’s school at just after 3pm. Her friends had not heard from her for four days and her family members had not replied to messages.

Police forced open the door to the family home in Staines Road, Bedfont, and discovered the four bodies.

As the family had not been heard from since last Monday, the exact date of the four deaths is not yet known.

On Wednesday (June 21) post-mortems on Maja and Dawid Wlodarczyk at Great Ormond Street Hospital revealed their cause of death. Maja was stabbed in the heart, while Dawid suffered “multiple stab injuries”, police said.

A post-mortem at Fulham Mortuary on Sunday found mum Monika Wlodarczyk’s cause of death was “multiple sharp force injuries”.

Michal’s cause of death was recorded as “sharp force injuries to the neck”, but no extra details were released about how he died, police said.

Friends

James Hoopa, the father of Maja’s best friend, visited the family home to lay flowers with his family. His daughter, 11-year-old Jasmine Hoopa, was visibly shocked and said nothing as her parents remembered her best friend.

Mr Hoopa said he asked Jasmine if Maja was okay after he saw police cars outside the family home on his way back from work yesterday (FRI) at around 6.30pm. However, Jasmine didn’t text and the pair decided to leave it.

The next morning Jasmine visited a friend who broke the news, leaving the year six pupil to run home to her mum in fear. Her mum, Nora Hoopa, said the family rushed over to the house which is opposite theirs.

The parents cried as they questioned how they would get through this and support their bereaved daughter.

Mr Hoopa said: “My daughter goes to school with a little girl in the same year. Last night I finished with about half six and I came down here and I saw the police cars and everything. I got home and I said well, have you contacted your friend? Is she okay? But you know what children are like, no notice. Then I come back from work today I find out that she's dead.

“I found out Maja is dead. We know the parents as well, the dad and the mum, they all go out together. They all go to the same school. [Maja] was just a normal child, growing up, lovely girl. She’s just a normal child, this is a shock. I don’t know how my daughter is going to get through this because my daughter is very best mates with her.

“For her to go through this experience, something else as parents that we’ve got to deal with. Normal, just like any normal person. We shared thoughts, the kids go out together, we communicate. We’re neighbours, we live across the road, this is a shock - it’s going to take some time to settle into this one."

His wife Mrs Hoopa said: “We’ve got pictures of them, not long ago I took them to Staines, window shopping. Occasionally I’d take them out, just me and Maja and Jasmine would go out together. We’d plan to go out, we went to MacDonald’s, we went to Nando’s, not long ago we went to Staines shopping.

“This morning she went out. Not long later she came home, I was a bit surprised she came home so quickly, she said to me: ‘Mum, mum, something’s happened, I think Maja, something’s happened to her.’

“I said: ‘Let’s go and check.’ We saw the article online about on the Staines Road had been found and they’d passed away. Me, Jasmine, and Jennifer my daughter we all rushed down and my family was down to verify because the description and the article matches them. I thought no, no this is not right.

“I just can’t believe it. She was a very brave girl, very mature for her age. Through Jasmine we’ve got that rapport with Maja, not so much with the parents but then Maja comes around, Jasmine comes around, we’ve got that rapport. It’s just a shock. I don’t know how we’re all going to pull through as family.”

Murder investigation

Detective Chief Inspector Linda Bradley, who is leading the investigation, said: “Specialist detectives continue to investigate the circumstances which led to this tragic incident. We are continuing to support family members at this unimaginably difficult time, and we thank the local community for their understanding in recent days whilst we conducted enquiries at the scene.

“The situation remains that we are not currently seeking anybody else in connection with the incident.”

Anyone with information that may assist the investigation is asked to call 101, quoting reference 5135/16Jun. Alternatively please provide information via an online form.