A 95-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his care worker after a woman died in hospital, police have said.
The Metropolitan police said they believed the 61-year-old woman’s injuries were sustained at a residential address in Islington, north London, where she was doing care work.
The London ambulance service was called to the property at 4.15am on Thursday and sent two crews, a spokesman said, adding: “We treated one person at the scene and took them to hospital as a priority.”
Police officers were called to a hospital in north London shortly after 7am on Thursday, after the woman was admitted with head injuries. She died shortly before 11am.
A neighbour who has been living in the block of flats in Holloway for 10 years said the 95-year-old man was rarely seen outside his home since he and his wife fell ill.
The woman, who did not want to be named, said another neighbour told her of hearing a scream in the early hours of Thursday morning. She said the elderly man would normally have a care worker looking after him and he was occasionally visited by family members.
“It’s a surprise,” she said. “They are a very good family. I don’t know what’s happened. I was coming home from work and saw police upstairs. Another neighbour heard a scream at about 4am, but I didn’t.”
The woman who died was an employee of a care agency commissioned by Islington council. The council’s leader, Richard Watts, said: “We are devastated to hear of the death of a carer in Islington. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this desperately sad time.”
The elderly man was bailed and police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. Neighbours said the man was frail and used a walking stick. He was taken to hospital as a precaution owing to a pre-existing condition. Police said he would stay there until a place was found where “his complex health and care needs” could be managed.
Neither the man nor the victim have been named by Scotland Yard.
The woman’s next of kin have been informed and police said a postmortem examination would be carried out.
