Woman’s body found in suitcase pulled from Grand Union canal

 
A police officer at the scene near the canal today
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Murder squad detectives launched an investigation today after a woman’s body was found in a suitcase in a canal in west London.

Officers were called to a narrowboat mooring spot in Little Venice yesterday after passers-by spotted the suitcase in the water.

A stretch of the Grand Union Canal next to Delamere Terrace was closed for several hours while officers from the marine support unit and fire crews were involved in recovering the case.

It was found near the Waterway pub. Inside, police found the body of a woman which is understood to be intact.

Police refused to give further details but it is understood the suitcase had been in the water for some time and the body was too decomposed to give an accurate estimate of her age.

Police officers remove the bag thought to contain the woman's body from the canal

Scotland Yard said officers were called to the area at around 2.30pm yesterday.

A spokesman said: “At this early stage, the death is being treated as suspicious. Detectives from homicide and major crime command are investigating and police are working to discover the identity of the deceased.”

A post mortem to establish how the woman died was expected to he held this afternoon.

Boat owners moored on the canal told how they saw police inspecting one of the boats before forensics officers pulled an object from the water.

Andy Clarke, 53, moored about half a mile from where the suitcase was found, told how a couple he is friends with made the gruesome find yesterday afternoon and found the body wrapped in a sheet.

He said: "We went past the bridge near where the suitcase was found about 2.15pm yesterday and I saw the suitcase myself. It was very large, black and grey, and floating with its end up, as if it was full.

"Then we saw a young couple we know a few hours later in the Warwick Castle pub and they told us how they had disturbed the suitcase, probably to get it out of the water so it doesn't jam other boats' propellors or soemthing, and they found the woman inside.

"They called the police. They said there was a body inside it, that it looked as though it was a young woman with blonde or red hair and it was wrapped in a sheet. They were in a state about it.

"I had thought of fishing it out of the water at the time we went past because it's not nice to see rubbish in the water so it could easily have been me."

Mark Davies, 55, said people are only allowed to moor on the stretch temporarily, adding: “There were two coppers on the roof of the boat right on the end next to the bridge.

“We thought ‘what on earth are coppers doing on the roof.’

“Pretty soon after that they put a cordon up and we had to go inside. At that stage they said the didn’t know what they were dealing with.

“Then it wasn’t until early evening that we found out it was a body. It was all a bit unbelievable.

Natasha Widdowson, 23, who lives on a boat near to where the suitcase was found said she heard the scream of a woman the night before the body was found.

She said: "I have given a statement to the police because at about 8.30pm on Saturday night I heard a woman scream. It was a scream of someone who very much sounded in distress and it's not normally the sort of thing we hear round here because it's normally quite quiet.

"It was loud enough to wake me up but I didn't see anything else. I just went back to sleep."

She added: "I think it was a passer-by who saw something in the water and then called police. It's shocking because you get to know a lot of boaters round here and if it ends up being someone we know then that's awful."

Another boat owner, called Brice, said: “The two coppers were standing on that one boat and then a lot of forensics guys turned up. It’s very shocking.”

Residents in flats overlooking the stretch said they were only alerted to the incident after seeing a policeman stand next to a cordon.

David Richards added: “There has been two or three bodies in suitcases on the canal here, further up, over the last two or three years.”

Passers-by reported seeing large numbers of officers attending the scene.

Paul O’Neill wrote on Twitter: “Massive police presence at the Waterway pub. Footbridge and canal path all closed off.”

Simon Mac wrote: “Lots of police and fire engines by the Waterway pub/canal near Little Venice.”

Little Venice is described by the Canal and River Trust as ‘an oasis of leafy calm’ just a few minutes walk from Paddington Station.

The canal has narrowboats moored on either side and the neighbourhood boasts some of the most expensive Georgian and Victorian homes in the capital.

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