Man arrested over ‘murder of woman, 19, in Croydon who recently arrived in the UK from India’ ran out of the house ‘covered in blood’, horrified neighbours claim

A man arrested on suspicion of the murder of a 19-year-old woman who recently arrived in the UK from India ran out of the house ‘covered in blood’, horrified neighbours have claimed.

The 19-year-old victim was found with stab wounds on Sunday afternoon at a residence in Ash Tree Way. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Now, a neighbour in Croydon, south London, has come forward and said she saw the suspect bleeding from a head wound before he sprinted back inside the shared property.

A 23-year-old man, who was taken to hospital after having suffered a minor head injury, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder.

Police were called to the two-storey terraced house on residential Ash Tree Way, Croydon, south London at 4.10pm on Sunday afternoon.

Scotland Yard said the victim was found with stab injuries and pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said at time that the suspect and victim were known to each other and that nobody else was sought in connection to their investigation. 

Police guard a cordon after a 19-year-old woman was stabbed in Croydon, south London, on Sunday

An aerial view shows the site of the murder where a 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion

A woman was found suffering stab injuries and she was pronounced dead at the scene

She was the nineteenth teenager to be murdered in London this year, and the second  in Croydon in less than five weeks after Elianne Andam, 15, was fatally stabbed as she made her way to school on September 27th.

Police believe the latest victim only arrived in the country from India ‘relatively recently.’

The force confirmed the 23-year-old suspect was taken to hospital ‘with a minor head injury.’

Lindsey Edge, whose property overlooks the crime scene, said she saw him bleeding profusely before he sprinted back inside the property on Sunday.

She claimed three families illegally sub-letted the house where the woman’s body was found.

She said she ‘consoled’ a teenager who was in the house at the time of the murder, but who didn’t hear the incident unfold because she was cooking with headphones on.

The neighbour and mum of two said the teenager, who had had her headphones in, arrived in the UK three weeks ago and spoke little English.

She believes she moved to into the house at the same time as the victim.

Mrs Edge said: ‘A man came out, he had a head wound and was covered in blood, and then shot back in.

‘Then we saw loads of police vans and then a helicopter, but we didn’t realise the woman was already dead.

‘We didn’t know she’d already died.

‘He came out, then he rushed back in, he was clothed.

‘Then when the police came they had him up againstaA Transit van where the door is, he had his shirt taken off that stage.

‘We thought they’d wait a bit longer to remove the body.

‘I put my son to bed at 9pm and we told him to shut the shutters because the police were bringing the body out.

‘He knows what’s happened, but we didn’t want him to see that.’

She claimed the house was illegally occupied by three families, although she has only seen a mother and father with a six-year-old boy.

She said that family were at a ‘temple’ at the time of the incident.

Mrs Edge said: ‘The house has been bought by a landlord and that landlord has sublet it out, so we didn’t know who was in there.

‘When that house was first sold it was a young couple with a six-year-old boy living there.

‘I was really panicking thinking where’s the six year old boy, but I think they were all at a temple, so they were out, so we didn’t know who was in there.

‘They’re Hindu, I think.

‘We consoled a teenager who was in the kitchen cooking at the time, but she had ear buds in so she didn’t hear anything until the police came in and knocked the door down.

‘She was shaking, we were quite thankful that she had earbuds in so she didn’t hear anything at all.

‘She was in the kitchen which was at the back of the house.

Police have launched a murder investigation after a 19-year-old woman was found dead at a home in Ash Tree Way, Croydon

Police believe the latest victim only arrived in the country from India ‘relatively recently’ 

‘She had only been in the country for three weeks, so her language was very broken.

‘Obviously it was such a shock and she was very upset at what she’d seen.

‘I imagine that they had come here at the same time. The girl [with the ear buds] was younger than 19, but she was a teenager.’

She added that she didn’t know if the young girl was related to the victim, because the house was reportedly sublet to multiple families.

She continued: ‘It’s not a multiple occupancy (HMO) it’s illegal and under the radar. Nothing was registered.

‘The only time we saw anyone go in there was the man and wife and six-year-old boy.

‘As neighbours we went over and said ‘hi’, introduced ourselves and told them when to put their bins out et cetera.

‘But they weren’t in the house when it happened.

‘I think in total there are three families living there.’

Meanwhile, another neighbour reported the woman ‘seemed to have a big smile on her face’ and looked happy when entering the property at around 3:45pm on Sunday.

Another neighbour said a man was later taken away by police with no shirt on and ‘looked very passive’.

The neighbour, who did not want to be named,added that several families live at the address, adding: ‘For about two or three months there’s been so many people coming and going.’

Three forensics vans were at the scene on Monday, with a police cordon in place around the property and a van parked on its drive.

A post-mortem examination will be arranged in due course and officers are still working to trace and inform her family.

Officers are not seeking anyone else in connection with the investigation.

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