Boy, 5, dies after being shot in the head at home

A five-year-old boy died in hospital after being shot in the head at his mother's home in west London shortly after midnight yesterday. Scotland Yard has launched a murder inquiry into the death of Perry Flower.

Officers were called to an "altercation" at the house in Hounslow soon after 1.10am where they found the mother and son, who had suffered serious head injuries. He was taken to a west London hospital. His mother, who has not been named, sustained minor injuries and was also taken to hospital, but later released.

A police spokeswoman said a man in his 30s, believed to be the woman's estranged boyfriend, was arrested after a car chase in Hammersmith, west London. Police are understood to have seized ecstasy tablets from the man's car.