Man held over Birmingham taxi stabbing

Police were tonight questioning a 28-year-old man on suspicion of murdering a woman who was stabbed to death in a taxi.

West Midlands Police said the man, named by sources as Junior Saleem Oakes, was taken into custody after he was found in the garden of a house on Allens Farm in south Birmingham just after 6pm.

The suspect is also known as Mohammed Saleem (Salim) Junior Oakes.

The victim, who has not been named, was knifed repeatedly while still in the car in Northfield, Birmingham, at around 8am today.

Police said they believed she had been in a relationship with her attacker.

The driver of the taxi - a light-coloured Peugeot - called 999 but the woman was in cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived and could not be saved.

Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jones described the police investigation as "complex and dynamic" and renewed earlier appeals for witnesses to come forward.

Scores of police officers and a team of forensic investigators spent the day at the scene, on Dimsdale Road, near the junction with Hoggs Lane.

Both roads remained closed to traffic this evening.

A force spokesman said a post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted tomorrow, adding that specially trained officers were supporting the woman's relatives.

Matthew Connelly, a neighbour who saw the incident unfold from his window, said medics spent 30 minutes trying to save the woman.

He added: "It's not something you really want to wake up to. Waking up and looking out of your window to this, it's not nice."

PA