A 13-year-old girl has appeared in court charged with murdering a woman whose body was found after a house fire.

Northamptonshire Police said the body was discovered at a property in Wellingborough, in the early hours of Monday morning.

Detectives believed the victim was Marta Bednarczyk, 43, a mother of three children.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has also been charged with arson with intent to endanger life.

The girl appeared at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning and spoke only to confirm her age and date of birth.

She wore a grey jogging top and bottoms, and held a teddy bear with both hands during the hearing.

The magistrates sent the case to the crown court and the child is due to appear there at 14:00 GMT on Wednesday.

Until then, she was remanded into youth detention.

Police and firefighters were called to the house in Newcomen Road shortly after 03:00 following reports of a fire.

The victim was declared dead at the scene at 03:29.

A post-mortem examination gave the preliminary cause of death as a sharp force injury.

Det Ch Insp Johnny Campbell, senior investigating officer from the East Midlands special operations unit, said he wanted to thank officers and staff who had worked “tirelessly” since the “very tragic events”.

“And, in particular, all our thoughts are with Marta’s family who have been fully co-operative throughout what has been a devastating couple of days for them,” he added.