Pictured: ‘Matriarch of the community’, 76, who beat Covid before she was found dead in east London as 30-year-old man is charged with her murder
- Phyllis Nelson was found dead in a home in Plaistow, east London, on Thursday
- Donovan Miller, 30, of Kent Street, Newham, was charged with murder on Friday
- Phyllis’s neighbour described the 76 year old as the ‘matriarch of the community’
A 76-year-old woman, who was found dead in east London, has been described by her neighbour as the ‘matriarch of the community’.
Police were called to a home in Plaistow, east London, shortly before 10.30pm on Thursday and confirmed an elderly woman, Phyllis Nelson, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Donovan Miller, 30, of Kent Street, Newham, was charged with murder on Friday.
Phyllis Nelson (pictured), 76, was found dead in a home in Plaistow, east London, on Thursday night and has been described by her neighbour as the ‘matriarch of the community’
Police were called to the home in Plaistow, east London, shortly before 10.30pm on Thursday and confirmed an elderly woman was pronounced dead at the scene
Neighbour Emma Martin, a data analyst, told the Evening Standard that Ms Nelson had contracted Covid-19 in January and had been in hospital ‘for a long time’.
She described Phyllis as the matriarch of the block, who was always cooking or in the garden trimming her rose and holly bushes.
Ms Martin said Phyllis was born in Jamaica and lived in a ground floor flat with her grandson, who looked after her following her battle against coronavirus.
She said: ‘I’m just reeling really because she had Covid in January and she was taken into hospital for two weeks and now to hear she was taken unfairly is just horrible.
Donovan Miller, 30, of Kent Street, Newham, was charged with murder on Friday. Pictured: Police at the scene in Plaistow yesterday
‘We were so thrilled to have her back and she was out in the garden only this week. She was a really wonderful woman and everything you would want in a neighbour.
‘She was very kind and the matriarch of the block in the best possible way.
‘She was very involved in the community since her retirement and we’d have lots of street parties. She was a church singer and she was involved in the Plaistow South Big Local group.
‘She was always saying hi and always tending to her roses and her holly bushes or cooking Jamaican spicy chicken and fish dishes.
Neighbour Emma Martin, 32, described Phyllis as the matriarch of the community, who was always cooking or in the garden trimming her rose and holly bushes (police cordon pictured above)
‘She was a strong-willed, independent and fearless woman. She’d lived here for decades. She cared about this area and she cared about the community.’
Miller will appear at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.
A body was removed from the property on Friday morning and police said next of kin are aware.
A post-mortem examination will be scheduled in due course.