Family devastated by young boy's stabbing

Police continue to quiz the father of a four-year-old boy who was stabbed to death as the child's family spoke of their "devastation".Ryan Hawkins was taken to hospital with serious injuries after an incident in Royd Street, in Slaithwaite, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, on Sunday afternoon but died a short time later.His 14-year-old sister, Donna, was also taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary with multiple stab wounds and was said to be in a serious but stable condition after surgery.Their father, Chris Hawkins, and another man, have been arrested on suspicion of murder and suspicion of attempted murder.The second man has now been released without charge.The children's great-uncle George Fellows spoke of the family's grief, saying: "We're a close family and we're devastated. We just can't believe it."Mr Fellows said the children's mother is receiving counselling.His daughter-in-law, Tracy Fellows, added: "It's just senseless."Waqar Zaman, 34, the owner of a nearby shop, was one of the first people on the scene and described how he tried to help the teenage girl by removing his T-shirt and trying to stem the flow of blood from her wounds.He said: "She had a stab wound on her face which went straight through her mouth, she had stab wounds in her stomach just under her rib cage; all over the place."Her right arm was completely broken, she couldn't breathe. She was complaining she couldn't breathe, that she was going to die."A large part of the local area was cordoned off while police conducted their investigations.A white tent could be seen outside one of the stone houses on Royd Street and residents in neighbouring houses were not allowed out of their properties.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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ITN | September 24, 2007

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