Leigh murder: Murder inquiry launched after woman in her 40s stabbed to death

'Our thoughts go out to this lady’s family and friends at this devastating time'

The woman was found dead with stab wounds at a property on Manchester Road in Leigh. (Google Maps)

A woman has been stabbed to death in the north west town of Leigh, near Wigan.

Detectives from Greater Manchester Police have launched a murder inquiry after the victim, thought to be in her forties was found dead in a property on Manchester Road. The force said it was alerted by the ambulance service and tweeted that a “heavy police presence” was at the scene.

Locals reported that at least five police cars attended the scene and cordon was put up outside the terraced house.

No arrests have been made and the force said it was treating it as an isolated incident.

Paying tribute to the victim, superintendent Jon Chadwick of GMP’s Major Investigations Team said: “Our thoughts go out to this lady’s family and friends at this devastating time.”

He added: “We understand the concerns that the local community will have and we’d like to reassure them that we have a team of officers working on this case. An increased police presence will be noticeable for the coming days in the vicinity of Manchester Road and we’d encourage anyone with concerns to approach officers.

“We are appealing for anyone with information on this crime to come forward to police immediately.”

The woman was killed less than 24-hours after TV weather presenter Alex Beresford’s cousin was stabbed to death in West London.

Paying tribute to Nathaniel Armstrong, Mr Beresford, who was praised earlier this month for an impromptu speech on ITV’s Good Morning Britain about street violence, said in a statement: “We were all so shocked to receive this news yesterday and our thoughts right now are with his mum, his brother and sisters.”

He added: ”Nathaniel was a bright young man with his whole life ahead of him and this tragedy is yet one more example of a needless life lost to knife crime.”

A man in his 50s was also gunned down in the street in Maidstone, Kent on Sunday morning. Another man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of murder.