Doctors have saved the life of an unborn baby after his mother was shot dead with a crossbow.

Heavily pregnant Sana Muhammad, 35, who was formerly known as Devi Unmathallegadoo, was fatally injured at her home in Applegarth Drive, Ilford, east London, on Monday, but medics managed to deliver her son in hospital.

Police leaving the house in Applegarth Drive (Emma Bowden/PA)

Her husband Imtiaz Muhammad, told the Evening Standard that she was shot in front of her five other children, aged between one and 17, after he found her killer hiding in their garden shed.

The 42-year-old told the newspaper: “I went to put a cardboard box in the shed.

“He was there with the crossbow loaded.

“He stared at me, he was going to shoot so I ran into the house.

“My wife was doing the washing up, I was shouting ‘run’ ‘run’ ‘run’.

“He shot her. I can’t help thinking she took my arrow.

“Maybe it should have hit me. The kids were all there, it was horrific.”

Police leaving the house
Detectives going into the house (Emma Bowden/PA)

A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed that the baby had been delivered in hospital, where he remains.

Neighbour Nisa Khan, 40, who lives across the road from where the victim died, said: “It’s just terrible, it’s horrible, it’s not been a good time for us since yesterday morning.

“She was more like a sister than a friend. I knew her for a good seven years, ever since they moved there we’ve known them.

“She was just a lovely lady, lovely mother, lovely wife. I never saw her being upset, she always had a smile on her face even in the hard times.

“It’s just horrible, everyone goes from this world, we all go, but the way she’s gone it just hurts.

“Her memories will always stay with us, she’ll never be forgotten.”

Another neighbour said he had heard a man screaming for help at the house on Monday morning.

“I can hear the man screaming a lot, saying ‘help, help’,” he said. “He’s knocking the doors, on the neighbours as well, he’s asking for help, screaming for help.”

Ramanodge Unmathallegadoo, 50, of no fixed abode, appeared at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday accused of her murder and is next due in court at the Old Bailey on November 15.