Leamington Spa stabbing: Man arrested after one killed in double knife attack

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A 33-year-old has been arrested after one man was killed and a second was seriously injured in a street stabbing in Leamington Spa on Wednesday morning.

Locals said they had seen a man fleeing the scene “dripping with blood” following the incident, which is being investigated as a murder by Warwickshire Police.

West Midlands Ambulance Service confirmed one victim had died at the scene in Tachbrook Road – with paramedics called to the location shortly before 11am.

The second was taken to a major trauma centre where he is receiving treatment.

Now, Warwickshire Police’s chief superintendent Ben Smith has confirmed officers have made one arrest and are appealing for information on a fourth man believed to have been linked to the incident.

Chief sup. Smith said: "We have arrested a 33-year-old man from Leamington on suspicion of murder and he remains in police custody at this time.

"Officers are also trying to locate another suspect believed to be involved in this incident who was last seen at 11.30am in Emscote Road at the junction of Fosberry Road in Warwick”.

An extensive police cordon has since been set up in the area, while a large blue forensics tent was set up to cover a body outside of a residential address.

Locals said the area near the city centre was popular with student lets, while the tent itself was outside a row of terraced properties, some with To Let boards outside.

A witness told how a young man was seen fleeing the scene "dripping with blood" and yelling: "He tried to kill me".

A builder working on a property just yards from the murder scene said: "He came up the road and was panicking. You could see he was dripping with blood.

"He kept saying: 'He tried to kill me, he tried to kill me'.

"Then he tried hiding behind my van. He asked me to phone him a taxi. He said he wanted to go to his mum's house in Warwick.

"There was no way I was going to. I told him 'no', and he just started walking up the road.

"He was only a kid."

Officers have since began to search the surrounding area – including a nearby alleyway where the alleged attacker is thought to have hid between two vehicles for around five minutes.

Resident Shauna Reilly, who walks along the road regularly to take her children to nursery, said the incident was “very worrying”.

“Things like this have happened too many times recently," the 29-year-old said. “Scares the hell out of me. Hate my children being around all this horrible stuff.”

A spokesperson for the ambulance service said: “West Midlands Ambulance Service was called to reports of a stabbing involving two people on Tachbrook Road in Leamington Spa this morning.

"Two ambulances, a paramedic officer and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance attended the scene.”

Additional reporting by PA.