DETECTIVES were last night maintaining a bedside vigil over a critically injured girl after the discovery of the bodies of her mother and younger sister near a country village.
Police are hoping that nine year old Josephine Russell may be able to provide vital clues about the deaths of her mother Ms Lin Russell (45), and six year old daughter, Megan.
Their bodies were discovered in the early hours just yards from the body of their pet terrier in a wooded area near Chillenden about 10 miles from Canterbury Kent.
Josephine was found alive but with serious head injuries, and was last night fighting for her life at a London hospital.
Post mortem examinations on Mrs Russell and her daughter showed death was due to head injuries.
"This matter is now being treated as a murder," a Kent Police spokesman said last night.
Mrs Russell left the family home in the village of Nonington to pick up her children from school in nearby Goodnestone at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Staff at the school confirmed she collected the girls. However she failed to take them to Brownies.
Mrs Russell's husband Dr Shaun Russell, set off to search the route his wife would have taken. When he found nothing he called in the police.
The bodies were found near a wooded track next to farmland on the route home.
A police spokeswoman said that Josephine could have a key role to play. Clearly she will be the main witness. Police are hoping to speak to her, though that will depend on her injuries. This girl is probably our greatest hope of finding out what happened."
The head teacher of the pupil Goodnestone Church England primary school said the small village community was shocked at the deaths.
Mrs Daryl Peck said. "As you can imagine, our small community is very shocked as a result of these sad events. We are being helped to support the children by both the rector and the area education psychological service.
"We are in shock, we are in distress. We need to talk to parents."
Local shopkeeper Mrs Barbara Whitley said. "The whole village is absolutely stunned. They were a lovely, close, happy family. It is hard to believe that this has happened to them.
"The children walked half a mile to and from school. There are no buses through the village and people usually walk everywhere."
A spokeswoman for Kent County Council said. "The normal thing is for the staff to take the children out of the school at going home time, but today parents were invited in to collect the children."
Members of the council's educational psychology service have been at the school to offer support to staff and children.
"They are helping in the way the news is handled in relation to the children, so they are able to come to terms with the news of what has happened and the consequences in their lives the gap left in the classroom and in friendships."
The council spokeswoman described the area the school was in as a very tight knit community".