A woman arrested at the scene after a seven-year-old girl was stabbed to death in a Bolton park has been detained under the Mental Health Act.
The girl was attacked on Sunday while she was at Queen's Park with her family.
Witnesses say a woman holding a knife approached the family and stabbed the girl in the neck before taking off running.
She was overpowered and detained by a member of the public and later arrested.
Emergency services were called to the 22-acre park on Sunday afternoon and an Air Ambulance helicopter also attended the scene. Several police cars could be seen parked outside and entrances to the park was cordoned off.
The child was seriously injured and died a short time after the attack.
An eye witness claims they saw the young victim being given CPR as two adults stood "covered in blood" nearby.
Assistant Chief Constable, Russ Jackson of Greater Manchester Police, said: "Words cannot describe how awful this attack is.
"The family were out in the park, enjoying the spring sun when in a totally unprovoked and random attack this little girl sustained horrendous injuries and sadly died a short while later.
"A 30-year-old woman who was not known to the family was detained by a member of the public and then arrested by the police.
"She is currently in custody for murder and it is expected she will be interviewed by detectives later.
"We are working to understand the motive for this completely random and brutal attack.
"We understand that the woman has some history of mental illness and we are working to understand if this played any part in her motive.
"We have sent specialist family liaison officers to support the family. This is a family's worst nightmare. The incident is horrendous and I cannot begin to imagine what the family of this little girl are going through.
"We are determined to quickly understand how this came to happen, leaving a young family so distraught and so devastated in an instant."
- Family
- Crime
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