Christina Abbotts’s murder: what do we know so far?

A man has been charged with the murder of a 29-year-old woman
who was found dead in her bed in Crawley, West Sussex, after
failing to turn up to her own birthday celebrations.

The family of Christina Abbotts described her as sweet and
loving in a tribute released on their behalf by Sussex police.

“This independent lady, a much-travelled person, was taken from
us far too early. Her friends in London and parts of the UK will
also be grieving. The light in our life is now extinguished. Love
forever from our family”, they said.

Zahid Naseem, 47, of Amersham in Buckinghamshire, has appeared
at Brighton magistrates’ court charged with her murder.

Suspicions were aroused when Abbotts, who had studied Real
Estate Management at Oxford Brookes University, did not turn up for
pre-planned birthday celebrations. “Her loved ones went looking for
her at the flat in Highams Hill, Crawley”, says The Daily Telegraph.

Neighbours said police “flooded” the street on Friday after a
man came looking for his daughter, says Sky News.

Deliveroo driver Aaron Harvey, 24, who lives nearby, said: “This
man came over, saying he had been looking for his blonde
28-year-old daughter and had I seen her.

“He said she had been house-sitting for a man in a flat here for
four months. He said no one had heard from her for about ten
hours and he was worried. He said it was her birthday and she
had booked a hotel in London to celebrate with friends but never
turned up.”

The police were called at around 10.30pm on Friday night and
discovered her body.

A postmortem found the preliminary cause of death to be blunt
force trauma to the head, police said.

Naseem, who knew Abbotts, was arrested at the property, police
said. Abbotts had been living at the flat in the Gossops Green area
of Crawley.