Murder investigation launched following death of Kettering assault victim
Detectives have this afternoon launched a murder probe into the death of a man who was attacked in Kettering.
Officers from the regional East Midlands Special Operations Unit launched their investigation after a man assaulted in the centre of Kettering on Wednesday (August 27) died.
The 50-year-old victim sadly died at Kettering General Hospital earlier today (Sunday, August 31). Police say his next of kin have been informed.
He suffered fatal injuries following an early morning assault in London Road, between Market Street and St Peter’s Avenue.
Police say they have now arrested eight people over the incident – three Kettering women, aged 45, 40 and 23, three men aged 60, 55 and 31, from Kettering and one man aged 34 from Corby. They were arrested for attempted murder. One man from Kettering aged 34 has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody.
Dozens of detectives, police officers and staff say they have been working tirelessly over the past few days to established what happened.
They have been carrying out house-to-house inquiries, trawling CCTV footage in the area and gathering forensic evidence.
London Road is one of the main routes through Kettering town centre, and the investigation team would still like to hear from anyone who may have been in the area at the relevant times and have dash-cam footage of their journey.
Detectives are still asking residents and businesses in this area of Kettering, who may have CCTV or smart doorbells, to get in touch as a matter of urgency, if they have not already done so.
Detective Inspector Torie Harrison, who is leading the investigation, said: “The victim in this investigation suffered appalling injuries in the attack, which happened sometime between midnight and 4am last Wednesday. Sadly, and despite the best efforts of medical staff, they were so severe that he passed away in hospital earlier today.
“As a result of this sad turn of events, we have now raised this to a murder investigation, and we continue to seek the public’s support in gathering evidence.
“People will be understandably shocked by today’s news, but we will continue to keep an increased police presence in the local area, including high visibility patrols.
“This remains a fast-moving investigation where we are looking at a number of lines of inquiry and we will seek to provide a further update tomorrow (Monday, September 1).
A post-mortem was due to take place at Leicester Royal Infirmary later today.
Witnesses or anyone with information should call Northamptonshire Police on 101 or alternatively call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111. Quote incident number 25000503578 when providing any information to make sure it gets to the right person as quickly as possible.
Alternatively, information can be submitted online here.