Man to face court over teen murder (From Herald Series)
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Man to face court over teen murder
3:12am Monday 4th February 2013 in National News © Press Association 2013
Sasha Marsden was repeatedly stabbed in a frenzied attack before her body was set alight (Lancashire Police/PA)
A man is to appear in court charged with the murder of a 16-year-old girl whose body was found in an alleyway.
College student Sasha Marsden had been fatally stabbed in the head and face before attempts were made to set her on fire.
David Minto, 22, of Kirby Road, Blackpool, is accused of her murder and is due before Blackpool magistrates.
Passers-by were reported to have thought Miss Marsden's body was a shop dummy that was burning in Kirby Road in the resort's South Shore area on Thursday night.
On Sunday Miss Marsden's family laid flowers at the scene and later left without comment.
In a statement issued through Lancashire Constabulary, her parents Gary, 40, and Jayne, 45, from Staining, Blackpool, said: "No words can express how we feel. Our beautiful daughter has been taken from us.
"She was a loving daughter, sister, granddaughter, great granddaughter, auntie, niece, cousin and girlfriend. She was very much loved and her loss has left a huge gap in all our lives, a gap that can never be filled.
"Sasha was your typical teenager, a fun-loving girl who enjoyed spending time with her friends and boyfriend, with her parents being last on the list unless she wanted something or needed a lift somewhere.
"We would ask that we be left alone in private to allow us to come to terms with losing our beautiful precious daughter."
