Tributes paid to 16-year-old murder victim

Tributes have been paid to a 16-year-old girl who died after being found seriously injured in a street in Leeds, sparking the launch of a murder investigation.

The teenager, who has been named locally as Chloe Watson, was found in Kennerleigh Avenue in Austhorpe shortly before 06:00 GMT on Saturday and died in hospital a short time later.

Four people - two women aged 18, a 19-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy - remain in police custody after being arrested on suspicion of her murder.

Floral tributes have been left at the scene, with one message addressed to "my beautiful girl" saying: "Rest easy my Chloe. Love you forever my crazy girl."

A photo of the teenager has also been taped to a box on the roadside alongside the growing collection of flowers and messages.

A fundraising page set up online by one of the girl's relatives stated that her "life was sadly taken in tragedy, 16 years young, didn't even make it to her 18th, her whole life was taken in a flash".

The family member behind the appeal, which had raised more than £10,000 by Monday morning, added: "I wanted to create a GoFundMe to help give her the best send-off possible.

"She didn't deserve this. She was so full of life. Such an innocent beautiful soul taken too soon."

A message left by one of Chloe's friends said: "Rest easy my Chloe, love you forever my crazy girl."

Another person left a toy at the scene and told the BBC Chloe used to play with his dog when they were younger.

Looking at the floral tributes, local resident Gillian Brook said: "This young girl's lost her life. She'd got all her life ahead of her. My granddaughter's the same age.

"My heart goes out to her family and everybody who knew her. It's devastating.

"It's just a really quiet area and you don't expect it. It's so, so sad."

Det Ch Supt Marc Bowes, senior investigating officer, said on Sunday that inquiries into the teenager's death were continuing.

He appealed for anyone who was in the Kennerleigh Avenue area in the early hours of Saturday morning to "come forward if they have any information which could assist our investigation".

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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