Police arrest pair over man's murder in Stoke area of Plymouth, near Devonport - UPDATE

MORE DETAILS are emerging about the murder of a 33-year-old man in the Stoke area of Plymouth near Devonport. However, police are still unable to name the deceased as he has yet to be formally identified,  although his family has been informed...

Police were called to a property in Molesworth Road, Plymouth, just after 1.00am on Tuesday 12 March. Here they discovered the body of a man who lived at the address. A 50-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman have been arrested on suspicion of murder. They remain in police custody.

A murder investigation - called Operation Locomotive - has begun. Detectives from the major crime investigation team are assisting the Plymouth investigation team.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Bean, leading the investigation, said: "This is the very early stages of a murder investigation and as you can appreciate I am limited to what I can share with you at this time.

"I want to reassure the local community that the two suspects and victim were all known to each other. I can also share with you that all three had recently come to the attention of police for an earlier incident. At this time I am unable to give further details, but this will form a line of enquiry in my investigation. As a consequence of this, I have referred this incident to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

"Local neighbourhood officers and PCSOs have been patrolling the area to reassure local residents.

"There are a number of specific lines of enquiry that the investigation team is following. This includes carrying out house-to-house enquiries and looking into the relationship history of the deceased and the two suspects. In addition there is some complex forensic retrieval and analysis being carried out."

A forensic post mortem is being undertaken today which is hoped will identify the actual cause of death.

DCI Bean said: "I appreciate local people would like to know more details but at this time we must allow the investigation to run its course and not allow ourselves to be drawn into speculation. I will endeavour to provide further updates as and when I'm able to."

If anyone has any information about this incident or saw or heard anything suspicious in the vicinity of Molesworth Road in the last 48 hours, please contact police on 101, alternatively call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 and quote reference ED/13/1446.