Two sisters stabbed to death in a London park after a birthday party were the daughters of a former archdeacon of Southend.

Police launched a murder investigation after the bodies of Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, were found in Fryent Country Park, in Wembley, north-west London, on Sunday.

Detectives said the sisters were among a group of ten people who gathered in the park on Friday evening. Police said the two women had stayed behind in the park after their friends left.

The pair were reported missing late on Saturday when they did not return home.

Investigators now say they are confident they were stabbed to death by someone who was a stranger to them.

Their grieving mum, Mina Smallman, was appointed by the Church of England as its first woman to the post of Archdeacon of Southend in 2013.

She served in her role until 2016, until she retired and was also the Church of England’s first female archdeacon from a black and minority ethnic background.

Clacton and Frinton Gazette:

Loving mum - Mina Smallman served as Archdeacon of Southend between 2013 and 2016

In a statement Acting Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Revd Peter Hill said: “We are devastated to hear of the tragic deaths of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry in North London at the weekend.

“Nicole and Bibaa were the daughters of our former Archdeacon and good friend Mina Smallman.

"This is heartbreaking news and the thoughts and prayers of everyone at Chelmsford Diocese are with Mina and her family. We ask that their privacy is respected and for everyone’s prayers at this most difficult of times.”

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding, of the Met's Specialist Crime Unit, said: “This is an unthinkably harrowing and tragic incident and my first thoughts remain with Nicole and Bibaa’s close family and friends who are going through the most unimaginable pain and suffering.

“There have been a number of factors involved in both the incident and the aftermath which have required extra time and care in enabling us to create a clear picture of what has taken place. But what we can now say with some certainty is that Nicole and Bibaa were murdered by someone who was unknown to them.

“Enquiries continue at pace, and an ongoing extensive search of what is a significant crime scene – including a pond - continues to yield evidence.

"My officers are also currently trawling through hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rubbish from a local refuse depot in search of items of relevance to the investigation, which we believe were accidentally cleared from the scene when mistaken for rubbish.”

“Whilst we tirelessly work to identify the individual responsible I am asking the public for their help with two points:

“We believe the suspect received injuries during the incident which have caused significant bleeding.

"Do you know anyone who has been wounded in the last week who is unable to account for their injuries? Has someone returned home and perhaps acted suspiciously or tried to hide something from you?

“We also believe the suspect left the park via the Valley Drive entrance. Did you see anyone acting suspiciously in that vicinity during the evening of Friday into early hours of Saturday? You may have noticed someone who was injured.

“If you have information on either of these specific appeal points - no matter how insignificant it may seem - please contact us. At this stage we don’t know why this awful attack took place and any information we can gather will help us further put the pieces of the jigsaw together.”

Police were called to Fryent Country Park, off Slough Lane, at 1.08am on Sunday, June 7 to a report of two women found unresponsive.

Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and they were pronounced dead at the scene.

Specially trained officers are supporting the sisters' family. 

A post-mortem examination conducted on Tuesday, June 9 gave the cause of death for both women as stab wounds.