A two-year-old girl has been stabbed to death and her mother taken to hospital with stab wounds, days after social workers called in by police decided that the child was not at risk.

Neighbours said they had told police they thought that the girl was in danger because of her mother’s erratic behaviour.

The Metropolitan Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the death.

The mother and child, whose body was found in an East London flat yesterday, were named locally as Ntsimbi Galtricia, 23, and her daughter Balthous.

Barking and Dagenham council said: “The police had reported a couple of instances of the woman’s behaviour to us. She was assessed on August 9 but was not found to be suffering from a mental health disorder.

“The information we received from the police didn’t raise any concerns over the welfare of the child. We didn’t take action over the child.” A council spokesman added: “It’s a tragic incident and our sympathy goes to the mother and family. The case will be subject to a serious case review.”

The Metropolitan Police said that a post-mortem examination was being arranged and that formal identification would follow.

It said that a woman, believed to be aged in her twenties, was taken to an East London hospital where her situation was thought to be serious but not life-threatening.

Huseyin Alacayir, who works at Thames Superstore opposite Ms Ntsimbi’s flat in Law House on the Thames View estate, said that he had reported her to the police.

He said: “She told me I had to come back to her flat with her. She came in with the little girl, threw her on the floor and told me I had to take responsibility for her. I think she had mental problems. Everyone around here had called the police because they were worried about the kid because she was losing control.”

Mr Alacayir added that he had barred Ms Galtricia from his shop because she continually behaved as if he were her husband.

Tolga Oklu, who also works in the shop, said: “The little girl always seemed happy. She was with her mum all the time but when her mum was angry she would knock her to the floor and the girl would run after her. Whenever the police were here we asked them to take the little girl away because we were worried about her.”

Kay James, a neighbour, said: “I saw her holding the child up off the floor by the neck and she was crying.”

Neighbours said that Ms Galtricia had lived in the flat for around eight months. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that on August 8 they had arrested a woman in connection with the harassment of a shopkeeper and that she was visited by police again last Saturday, when she was referred to social services.

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