Murder Investigation: Statement from Superintendent Rachael Handford

West Local Policing Area Commander, Superintendent Rachael Handford issues a statement after a murder investigation is launched in Northampton following the death of a man in his 20s.

Northamptonshire Police has launched a murder investigation after a man in his 20s was tragically killed in Northampton, yesterday evening (Wednesday, December 11).

Emergency services were called at about 5.40pm in Flaxwell Court following reports that a man had been seriously assaulted. Sadly, and despite the best efforts of police officers and paramedics at the scene, he died shortly afterwards in hospital.

This is an exceptionally sad and tragic incident, and as the local policing commander I would like to personally offer my sincere condolences to his family, who we are supporting at this time by specially trained officers, and his friends.

A death in such circumstances can have an enormous impact in the neighbourhoods and in the wider community and I would like to offer reassurance that we have a dedicated team of officers working at pace to establish why this has happened.

We know people are very shocked and upset by what has taken place, and our officers will remain in the area over the coming days to provide reassurance and to be on hand if anybody has any concerns.

Three people have been arrested, arrested in connection with this investigation and they remain in police custody at this time. However, we still want to hear from anyone who has any information which could assist our investigations.

We would encourage people with information, however small, to get in touch as soon as they can, if they have not already done so.

Any little detail may assist our investigation and we would rather have small pieces of well-meaning information, then not have them at all.

If you any information, please call us on 101. Or if you would prefer, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

If you have any CCTV, doorbell or dash-cam footage which may be relevant to the investigation, this can be uploaded directly via a special portal on our website.

Family and friends should be coming together at this time of year, in the festive period. However, today one family from our Northampton community are suffering unimaginable loss.

From one mother to another mother, my thoughts are with you, your husband, and your children. I am very sorry for your loss.