Police believe they know the identity of a woman who was murdered before her body was stuffed in a suitcase and found floating in a canal in London.
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.
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 repairwork by Thames Water.
The canal is a popular stretch for temporary moorings. One boatowner, 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: “Our investigation is fast moving and ongoing; we are following a number of lines of inquiry. I would like to appeal to the local community who live on, or use, the Grand Union Canal. Did you see anything suspicious over the last two weeks that may help us?”
