A pregnant teenager has made her first appearance in court charged in connection with an alleged double murder in Canterbury.

Samantha Groombridge is accused of possessing a knife linked to the stabbing deaths of the Simon Gorecki, 47, and Natasha Sadler Ellis, 40, at a house in Dickens Avenue on the Poets Estate on the night of March 29.

The 18-year-old, who gave her home address as Athelstan Road in Thanington, did not enter a plea when she appeared before magistrates in Margate today.

The court’s public seating area was packed with friends and family of Ms Ellis Sadler and Mr Gorecki as well as detectives investigating the case.

Groombridge is the third person to have been charged in connection with the case.

Mechanic Foster Christian, 54, who lived in the same house as Mr Gorecki in Dickens Avenue, is facing two counts of murder.

He is also accused of two counts of GBH with intent by allegedly stabbing Ms Sadler Ellis’s 20-year-old son Connaugh Harris and an unnamed 16-year-old.

Naomi Toro, 35, of Keyworth Mews on the Brymore Estate, is charged with assisting an offender by disposing of a knife.

The cases against Christian and Toro have already been transferred to Maidstone Crown Court.

Groombridge’s solicitor Ian Bond told the Margate court that the charge against her was so serious that it would also have to be heard at the Crown Court.

She was released on bail with conditions to live and sleep at a house in Downs Road, Canterbury, not to have any contact with her co-accused Toro and not to contact two named prosecution witnesses.

Her next court appearance is May 19 at Maidstone.