TEN people are being questioned on suspicion of murder after a man’s body was found in a garden close to the V Festival site in Chelmsford.

Police were called by the ambulance service in the early hours of Sunday morning, where a 39-year-old Rayleigh man was found dead in the back garden of a house on the A414.

A post mortem examination has given the preliminary result that the man died of head injuries.

Ten men, all aged between 23 and 35, were arrested by police on suspicion of murder and are being questioned by police.

Detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate need to speak to everyone who attended, what police believe, was a private party at the property during the late hours of Saturday/early hours of this morning.

Meanwhile, police are also investigating a very serious assault on a man in Duke Street, Chelmsford, around 3am on Sunday morning.

The man, believed to be an Albanian national and aged in his 20s, was taken to Broomfield Hospital with a critical head injury.

A 28-year-old man from Chelmsford, and 31-year-old man from West London have been arrested.

Ch Supt Glenn Caton, of Essex Police, said: “Crimes such as this are very unusual in this area and it is exceptional to be dealing with two serious incidents in Chelmsford committed on the same morning.

“We have been able to make quick arrests on both of these incidents and there is nothing to suggest that they are linked. We do not believe there is a direct connection with the V Festival.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Essex Police on 101.