Lea Adri-Soejoko murder: Police seek rough sleepers after grandmother’s murder

The body of a grandmother found murdered in an allotment shed may have lain undiscovered for around 12 hours, it emerged today.

Lea Adri-Soejoko, 80, was located by police less than 30 minutes after being reported missing from her home by relatives in the early hours on Tuesday.

Members of the Colindale Allotment Garden Association, where she was secretary, had contacted family members on Monday evening when she failed to attend a meeting.

Mrs Adri-Soejoko was discovered in a lock-up shed, for which she had a key, which was used by members of the association as an office and to store their garden tools.

Police have refused to disclose the manner in which she died for “operational reasons” but one report suggests she was strangled with her clothing pulled up over her head.

Murder detectives are trying to trace rough sleepers who have reportedly used the area as a place to sleep. One possibility is that Mrs Adri-Soejoko was killed as she disturbed someone breaking into the lock-up.

Gardeners at the communal plot in Colindale have reported concerns over large groups of men gathering there late at night to the local council.

Mrs Adri-Soejoko’s three children Tessa, 46, Lucy, and Mark, 50, are said to be devastated at their mother’s murder.

A woman who answered the door at grieving daughter Tessa’s home, said: “We have got nothing to say, thank you.”

Her granddaughter Amber, 23, works for an online advertising based in Regent Street and is said to have regularly stayed with her at the house in Sheaveshill Avenue.

Neighbours said Mrs Adri-Soejoko, an “active and well-liked” pensioner, would never stay at the allotments after dark.

A keen gardener and “pillar of the community”, she was last seen at 6.30pm on Sunday and spoke to a friend on the phone at 2.30pm on Monday.

Neighbour Ruth Pearce, 52, a care assistant, said: “She’s not normally at the allotments after 4pm. It’s just not like her, it’s very strange.

“There’s a hell of a lot going on over there at night. Sometimes when I come home the number of men coming in and out is unreal.

“The users went to the town hall last week to complain about the allotments and they said there was nothing they could do.”

She added: “Lea and her whole family were lovely. She wouldn’t hurt a fly. I still can’t believe I’m never going to see her pottering in the garden again.

“Her granddaughter was staying with her quite a lot and I’d see her leaving in the morning to go to work.”

Ms Adri-Soejoko, moved to the UK from Belgium in 1966 with her husband Antonius, who died several years ago.

Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh, who is leading the inquiry, said officers were trying to establish her last movements and trace any rough sleepers in the area, if only as witnesses.

He said : “She was a very fit, active and lively woman for her age. She was a well known figure on the allotments in what is quite a close knit community.

“This is an 80-year-old woman who you cannot imagine having a conflict with anyone. You cannot see why someone would want to hurt her. “

He added: “At the moment, we do not have a motive for Lea’s murder and I am appealing to the public to help us piece together her movements.”

DCI McHugh refused to comment on speculation that Mrs Adri-Soejoko was strangled, saying only that she had “lost her life in the most tragic way possible”.