Three held after body discovered

10:02am Saturday 22nd November 2008

THREE people were last night being held by police in connection with a man’s death.

The arrests were made following the discovery of an unidentified body in a downstairs room of a house in Forster Street, Darlington.

The man had suffered serious head injuries.

A 30-year-old woman and two men, aged 23 and 19, all from Darlington, were arrested yesterday afternoon.

The suspects were last night being questioned at Darlington police station in connection with the death, which police are treating as suspicious.

Chief Inspector Victoria Martin said: “The man had sustained head injuries, but at this moment in time we don’t know what the cause of death is.

“We still haven’t formally identified the body.

“The important thing is to get the body identified.

“That is our main line of inquiry so we can inform the next of kin.

“Then we have to establish how he has died and that will dictate where the investigation goes.”

She added: “Until we know how he died, we can’t start asking the right questions.

“Inquiries are ongoing, but a lot of forensic work has to take place.”

Police were called to the terraced house shortly before 9.30am yesterday.

The street, which is between the town centre and Darlington Memorial Hospital, was cordoned off along with neighbouring roads and alleys.

Forensic teams were brought in to carry out an examination of the property and the surrounding area.

One of the windows had been smashed, although it is not certain if this had happened before the man’s death.

Inquiries were continuing last night as detectives quizzed residents as they returned home from work.

Carl Richards, who lives next door to the house where the body was found, said: “There has always been different people living there, and a lot of people coming and going.

“There had been a lot of noise coming from the property over the past week. Some of the arguments were unbelievable.”

He added: “There has always been a lot of things going on in that house.”

Police could not confirm the truth behind rumours a person had been arrested at the address earlier in the week in connection with an assault.

The death has shocked residents of the street, many of whom last night congregated at the police cordon to find out more about the incident.

One neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: “I was on the phone to a friend when I heard all the ambulances and police cars go past.”

Chief Insp Martin said: “If anybody was in the Forster Street area yesterday morning or the previous day, and saw or heard anything, we would ask them to contact us on 0345-60-60-365.”

The cordon is expected to be kept in place today while detectives continue their investigations.

Residents are being allowed back to their homes, but through-access is restricted.