THE son of a village doctor has been granted bail after he was arrested on suspicion of killing his own brother.

James Hore

THE son of a village doctor has been granted bail after he was arrested on suspicion of killing his own brother.

Andrew Child, 27, died after an incident at his family home in Great Oakley, near Harwich, on Friday evening.

His older brother Adam, 33, was arrested on suspicion of murder and police said they are awaiting advice from the Crown Prosecution Service as to whether or not he will be charged.

The death comes as another tragedy for the men's father, Dr Stuart Child, a respected community GP, who is in mourning for his 58-year-old wife Angela who died of breast cancer in April this year.

A spokeswoman for Essex Police said: “A 27-year-old man was taken to Colchester General Hospital after becoming ill at the scene and sadly was pronounced dead on arrival.

Andrew Child, a financial consultant, lived at an address in Bullfinch Close, Harwich. A post mortem examination carried out on Saturday found the preliminary cause of death to be asphyxiation.

The police spokeswoman added: “We have released a 33-year-old man, who was arrested on suspicion of murder, on police bail pending a CPS decision.”

Police and ambulance crews were called to Dr Child's large detached home at 7.10pm on Friday to reports of a disturbance.

Andrew Child, who is thought to have been suffering from health problems, is believed to have been involved in an incident with his brother and later collapsed and died on his way to Colchester General Hospital.

The family's large detached home standing back from the road and overlooking fields, which had the GP surgery on the side, was sealed off by police tape.

The news has stunned neighbours in the rural village.

June Kelly, 81, a neighbour and patient of Dr Child, said: “Poor Dr Child - it's dreadful that he's lost a wife and now he's lost his son.

“I was talking to one of the sons the other day, he was the vision of Dr Child. He was a lovely boy, they were all a very nice family.”

Dr Child's late wife, worked as her husband's receptionist at the surgery, and is thought to have been diagnosed with breast cancer at Christmastime. Despite having chemotherapy she died on April 5 this year.

Mrs Kelly added: “Dr Child is a very caring man, you can talk to him about anything. He met his wife when they were just 14 and they were together all those years, they were childhood sweethearts.

“At Christmas she took ill and she died a few weeks ago, it was not a long illness. She had chemotherapy but it spread.

“I went to the service and it was absolutely chock-a-block. It was really overcrowded. The family was there but they did not do a reading, I expected they were all too upset.

“I think the doctor found it very hard to cope after his wife's death, they were devoted to each other.”

A neighbour of Andrew Child's in Bullfinch Close said: “He'd lived there for about three or four years. I think he may have worked at home.

“We knew his father was the doctor. He lived there on his own but often had friends coming and going.

“He was very depressed when his mother died recently, I think they were very close and he was struggling.”

Dr Child, who also has a surgery in nearby Dovercourt, is thought to have three sons and a daughter.