Woman killed in sex assault

Police in Burnley, Lancashire, have launched a murder hunt following the discovery of a woman's body tied in a roll of carpet. Carol Ann Clark, 25, had been beaten, sexually assaulted and knifed, before her body was dumped in the back yard of a vacant house opposite her home.

Lancashire police are seeking several people believed to have lived in the house next door to where she was found early yesterday. The area, one of the poorest in Burnley, has been associated with drug dealing, but police said Ms Clark had no known links with crime.