‘Britain’s Got Talent’ Finalist Simonne Kerr Found Stabbed To Death At The Age Of 31

Metropolitan police have confirmed the stabbing death of 31-year-old Simonne Kerr in southwest London. Law enforcement was called to a residence about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday and discovered Kerr dead from a stab wound. The suspect, 40-year-old Desmond Sylva, was quickly detained and charged with her murder on Thursday. He lived with Kerr at the residence where her body was found and did not enter a plea when he appeared before a magistrate on Friday, according to The Guardian. He is scheduled to appear in court on August 21. Police are not pursuing any other suspects. Kerr performed on Britain’s Got Talent as a member of the B Positive Choir this year.

Simonne Kerr was also a hematology and oncology nurse at Guy’s and St. Thomas Hospital in central London and volunteered with the Sickle Cell Society. During her pregnancy, Kerr learned that she was a carrier of the gene for sickle cell anemia through routine screening. That child died in 2015 of sickle cell anemia at the age of six, and Kerr said when she appeared on Britain’s Got Talent that singing had helped her get through that difficult time. The B Positive choir was made up of 60 individuals ages 22 to 62 who have sickle cell anemia or who have relatives with sickle cell anemia according to Us Weekly.

Britain's Got Talent singer Simonne Kerr stabbed to death in Battersea https://t.co/YYOtls5Jw1 pic.twitter.com/n1rV8lhEr6

— Mirror Breaking News (@MirrorBreaking_) August 16, 2018

B Positive made it to the final round of Britain’s Got Talent with a performance of “Rise Up” that had even Simon Cowell in tears and earned them a Wild Card entry. The did not win the season though as that prize went to the stand-up comedian known as Lost Voice Guy. The choir tweeted their condolences after hearing of her death.

“Our thoughts are with Simonne’s family at this tragic time. She was a valued member of the B Positive Choir who was passionate about blood donation following the loss of her son. We are devastated at the loss of a well-loved choir member and friend.”

Kerr wrote about her son on the NHS Blood and Transplant Blog.

“I got to spend six wonderful years watching Kavele grow and though there were a handful of hospitalizations in his short life, I was positive that he would live a full life into adulthood. I lost him in 2015 … Singing can be such an uplifting experience so joining the B Positive choir seemed the obvious way to raise awareness of the urgent need for more young and black people to give blood while doing something positive and motivational.”