Three quizzed over man's murder

By Jonathan Barnes

DETECTIVES were continuing to question three people last night on suspicion of murder after a man was found stabbed to death.

Emergency services were called to a house in Salisbury Road, Ipswich, at 3.30am yesterday, but the man, who is believed to be aged in his 30s, was already dead.

Police arrested three people - a 36-year-old woman, a 26-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man -and they were being held at separate police stations across Suffolk last night.

The dead man's identity has not yet been released by police. It is thought he was from Suffolk, but did not live at the house where he died.

Police said the man had suffered “at least one stab wound” and a Home Office pathologist was due to carry out a post-mortem examination yesterday afternoon, but the result has not been made public.

Residents of the street, which runs between Nacton Road and Felixstowe Road to the east of the town, spoke of their shock at yesterday's events.

Liz Harsant, the leader of Ipswich Borough Council, lives opposite the semi-detached house, which is called Homeleigh Cottage.

She said yesterday: “The street has been crawling with police. It's horrible when something like this happens in your road - it doesn't seem right.

“A youngish couple, in their 20s, have lived there from about the beginning of the year. They would often walk up and down the road with a shopping trolley and always said 'Hello'.

“They seemed quite a vulnerable couple and I would say they kept themselves to themselves. People used to call at the house quite a lot.

“Normally, it's quite a quiet street, but the police were called to this particular house early this year.”

Michelle Babbs, 38, who lives across the road from the house, said she had heard some people outside the previous night.

“There were three of them and one said 'Go inside'. I hadn't seen one of them before,” she said.

Raymond Curtis, 74, who lives next door to Homeleigh Cottage, said he had heard a bang on the wall on Tuesday night.

“There was just a lot of noise. We went to bed at 11.15pm and it was still going on then, but you often hear noise there,” he said.

Another neighbour, a 40-year-old woman who did not want to be named, said: “A few weeks ago there was an argument out on the street between a man and a woman.

“I just heard shouting that he wanted to go and she wanted him to stay. The sort of thing he was shouting was 'I have got to do what I have got to do'. That was in the night.”

jonathan.barnes@eadt.co.uk