Probe on body find at house

A woman has been found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs in the hallway of a house in Kidderminster, sparking a police investigation.

Police and paramedics were called to the detached house in Pineridge Drive at 12.30am on Saturday, where they discovered the body of a 59-year-old woman. She was pronounced dead at the scene. A post mortem later concluded she had died from a head injury.

A 60-year-old man has been arrested and remained in custody today.

Police said the death of the woman was currently being treated as "unexplained".

The house where the body was found was sealed off by police and an officer placed on guard at the scene in an unmarked patrol car.

Worcestershire coroner Mr Geraint Williams has been informed of the death.

Neighbours spoke of their shock at seeing the house at the top of the hill cordoned off with police tape.

They said a forensics team had been searching the scene yesterday.

One resident, who did not wish to be named, said the woman was thought to be a housewife and mother-of-two who was rarely seen out and about.

* The badly decomposed body of a man has been found in the River Severn at Astley, near Stourport.

The grim discovery was made by a passerby at about 7.45am on Saturday. A post mortem examination was carried out yesterday but the cause of death is yet to be ascertained. Police said they were currently treating the death as unexplained.