Three men arrested after woman's body found in London canal
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Version 0 of 1. Three men have been arrested by police investigating the murder of a woman whose body was stuffed in a suitcase and found floating in the Grand Union canal in London. Officers arrested the men, all in their 30s, on Monday evening on suspicion of murder. The woman’s decomposed remains were found wrapped in a white blanket when the black suitcase was pulled from the Grand Union canal in Little Venice, north-west London, on Sunday afternoon. Detectives from Scotland Yard’s murder squad say they believe they know the woman’s identity, although formal identification has not yet taken place. The next of kin have yet to be spoken to by detectives. They are still trying to establish how and when the woman died, after an initial postmortem examination proved inconclusive. It is not known how long the woman had been in the suitcase or when it was dumped in the canal. On Tuesday morning police lifted the cordon sealing off the area where the woman’s body was recovered near Delamere Terrace. The towpath next to the canal has been closed since last week for repair work by Thames Water. The canal is a popular stretch for temporary moorings. One boat owner, who gave his name only as Bruce, 55, said he was alerted to the discovery on Sunday afternoon when specialist forensics officers arrived and cordoned off an area metres from his boat. “I’m not particularly shocked that it happened here. I mean, why not? If the body has been in the suitcase for weeks then has it floated down? If it’s been floating then it could have come from Cowley [Lock, near Uxbridge in north-west London]. It’s been really windy so it could have been moving at one or two knots for days. That’s the first question I’m curious about,” he said. “It must be a terrible feeling for the family. That’s the worst part about it.” Officers are obtaining CCTV footage and carrying out door-to-door inquiries in the area. DCI Simon Ashwin, who is leading the investigation, said: “I would like to ask for the help of all those people who use or live on the Grand Union canal. We now believe that the body, placed in a black suitcase, was placed in the Grand Union canal at some point in the last two weeks. “Whilst the body was recovered near to Little Venice it is highly likely that she entered the water further along the canal. Did you see or hear anything suspicious or see a black suitcase in the canal?” The three men – aged 38, 34 and 30 – were arrested at separate addresses in north-west London on Monday and brought into custody. A Scotland Yard spokesman said officers were not in a position to confirm how long the body had been in the water. |