Man held over pregnant woman's murder

Detectives arrested a man yesterday over the murder of a pregnant woman found dead in her home in south London after being shot twice in the head.

Krystal Hart, 22, was found with gunshot wounds by police in the hallway of her flat in Battersea, south London, on Friday shortly after 11 a.m.

Media reports said she was three months pregnant. Detectives said a 40-year-old man had attended a police station in south London and had been arrested in connection with the murder. He is being held in custody and no further details were available.

Originally officers thought it was possible the "horrific murder" had followed a long-running dispute about parking spaces that got out of hand.

But Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton said they were not considering that a likely option any more.

"Whilst we continue to investigate the possibility that the murder could have been the result of a neighbour dispute, we no longer believe that this was over a parking matter," Mr Sutton said.

Detectives are examining CCTV footage from the building where the shooting took place and are appealing to any witnesses to come forward.

They have also issued an urgent appeal to trace a black VW Golf with the registration number J326 KCK.

"We believe the suspect was in possession of the car at the time of the murder before later abandoning it - possibly in the south London or Surrey area," police said in a statement.

Ms Hart's mother Deborah Penfold said her daughter's death had left a "gap which will never be filled".

"No words can describe the depths of our despair at the sudden and tragic loss of a most precious and beautiful young woman," she said in a statement.