There has been an outpouring of shock and grief this evening after a woman in her 30s was stabbed to death near Nonsuch Park in Cheam.

Emergency services were called to London Road, close to Sparrow Farm Road, at around 3pm to reports of an attack on a woman.

Paramedics and an air ambulance raced to the scene, where some witnesses reported seeing CPR being carried out on a woman, but she was later confirmed to have died.

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A nearby resident, who asked not to be named, said: "I never would have thought this would happen here. The lady was going to pick up her kids from school.

Your Local Guardian:

"We have lived here for nine years and nothing like this has happened before. 

"Apparently, two men got out of a black 4X4 car and stabbed her. I did not see the incident but I did see the woman lying on the ground. 

"Paramedics and police tried to revive her but she sadly died. They have covered her body up but police are still on the scene."

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Two men were arrested by police in a different location following the incident, one on suspicion of murder, while a second man was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

Police have since confirmed it is believed the victim and suspect may have known each other.

Another witness, who asked not to be identified, added: "About 2.55pm i saw a black 4x4 mount the curb and a male got out and chased this woman a couple of feet then grabbed her and she fell to the ground.

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The witness added they saw the man pull out "a large knife" and stab the woman "multiple times".

They added: "I spoke to the 999 services and then turned around, by which point the car was gone and members of the public were helping the young woman wrapped her up and were performing CPR."

In a statement following the murder, Chief Inspector Michael Hodder said: “This was a tragic and shocking incident in which a woman has lost her life after being attacked in broad daylight. Our thoughts are with her friends and family at this time.

“At this stage we believe the victim and suspect are known to each other. We realise there will be a number of questions about what has happened which we will try to answer when we can and would ask the public not to speculate.

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“We have a number of officers in the area to both investigate and support the community following this attack which we believe would have been witnessed by a number of people.

“If you did witness what happened and haven’t already spoken to officers, or may have dashcam footage I would urge you to do so immediately, by calling 101 and quoting the reference number PR/P19030779.”