A MURDER investigation has been launched into the death of an eight-day-old baby girl.

Detectives said they were alerted by the ambulance service after little Ava Grace Nolan was found unresponsive at a house in Dover Street, Nelson.

The baby was taken to Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital but she later died a short time later.

A post mortem examination revealed the baby had suffered a serious head injury forcing detectives to launch a murder investigation.

A 26-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman, understood to be the baby’s parents, were arrested on suspicion of murder following the child’s death last Wednesday around 11.20am.

Yesterday, officers said the pair, both of Nelson, had been bailed pending further enquiries.

Residents and community leaders described the baby’s death as ‘tragic’ and ‘truly awful’.

Two police cars, an operational support unit van and a crime scene investigation unit were parked in the street yesterday afternoon, as officers could be seen entering the house.

One resident said: “Police came on Thursday and left.

“Then they returned with white suits and spent a good amount of time inside the house.

“Since then the police have not left the building, they’ve got someone outside 24 hours a day and they just swap shifts.

“It’s madness. I thought something must have been up but I didn’t think it was that serious.”

His neighbour said: “It’s such a tragic event. No one wants an eight-day-old child to die.

“There’s been lots of police coming down here  since this all happened.

“I saw one lady get out of a van and put on a white suit, I knew then something was wrong.

“It’s not nice to see police there all the time, it makes you think what on earth has happened.”

Another resident said: “It’s awful, absolutely awful. I can’t believe something like this has happened down here.”

Cllr Joe Cooney, who represents the area on Pendle Council, said he was very shocked by the incident.

He said: “This is terribly upsetting to hear about.

“I hope the police can carry out their investigations to find out what happened to the young baby. It is truly awful.

“Thankfully these things are few and far between, but it is not nice at all.”

Detective Chief Inspector Jill Johnston, who is leading the investigation, said her team was doing everything it could to get to the ‘truth’.

She said: “Firstly our thoughts remain with the family of the child at this extremely sad and distressing time.

“Our investigation into the baby’s death is ongoing and we are doing all we can to get to the truth of what happened to her.

“We have a team of specially trained officers conducting a number of enquiries and supporting the family.”

Anyone with information that could assist the investigation is urged to call police on 101 quoting incident reference LC-20170816-1619