Residents on a quiet Streatham Common cul-de-sac were left shocked after a man was found murdered there.

Police were called to a house in Edgington Road at 3.40am yesterday where they found a 44-year-old man stabbed to death.

People living on the road said they heard the hysterical screaming of a woman, believed to be the man’s girlfriend, crying for help shortly before police and ambulance crews arrived.

Neighbour Caroline Gur said: “I was woken by shouting and screaming. I ran to the window and a woman was hysterical and crying.

“The police and ambulance were all there - I told my husband that something really bad must have happened. Obviously it did.”

Residents said they did not know the man but thought he might have been the boyfriend of the woman living at the house where the body was found.

Maureen Lloyd-Williams, 66, who was staying with her son in a house opposite, said: “We are all really alarmed this has happened.

“We hear about something like this almost everyday now, but when it happens on your son’s street it is really frightening.”

She said it was terrible no-one in the street seemed to know the victim or house’s owner.

“This is the London people live in now,” she added. “No-one really knows their neighbours anymore.”

Mrs Lloyd-Williams added that she had been woken up to the noise but had thought it was just a minor fight in the street.

Another man said he had heard a crash in the house shortly before the police arrived.

Detectives had cordoned the road off following the discovery of the body.

Forensic experts were still at the house this morning, and an alleyway connecting the road to Eadley Road was still closed off.

Police believe the attacker may have made their escape or disposed of a weapon there.

Officers say the victim’s next of kin has been told of his death but they are waiting for formal identification to take place before releasing his name.

A postmortem examination will take place at Greenwich Mortuary tomorrow morning.

The death is being investigated by officers from the Met’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command.

Anyone with any information is urged to call police on 0208 721 4961 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Did you know the victim? Contact the newsdesk on 0208 330 9538