Husband arrested after woman who had hand cut off in attack dies

Friends identify victim as Sunrise radio worker Geeta Aulakh, 26

Tuesday 17 November 2009 17.49 GMT

Police last night arrested the husband of a woman found with severe head injuries and her hand severed in a suburban street in west London who later died in hospital.

Friends identified the victim as Geeta Aulakh, a 26-year-old receptionist at a community radio station and a mother of two young children, who was separated from her husband.

The woman was found by passersby lying in a pool of blood in Braund Avenue, Greenford, at about 7pm on Monday. She was taken to Charing Cross hospital but died about four hours later.

It is understood that her husband was among six men arrested earlier today.

A man living close to the scene, who asked not to be named, said he believed the woman's throat had been cut, and her hand cut off.

A colleague at Sunrise Radio, based in nearby Southall, said the victim had been collecting her children from the house of her childminder in Braund Avenue when she was attacked.

Seema Sidha, 31, said she had left work at about 6.30pm with Aulakh, who said she was on her way to the childminder to collect her sons, aged eight and nine.

"That was her normal routine. She would drop her kids off in the morning and pick them up after work," Sidha said. "I spoke to the childminder and she said she was waiting for her. She texted her and phoned then she realised there were police outside her house. That is how she found out."

Sidha said that Aulakh, who was born in Britain, was separated from her Indian-born husband. Detectives, who were questioning the six people at police stations around west London, appealed for witnesses to the attack, noting that several people went to the victim's aid before police and ambulance crews arrived.

"These people left the scene before speaking to police and I would ask that anyone who was there, or anyone else who has information about the incident, call us in the strictest of confidence," said Detective Chief Inspector Andy Chalmers.

Braund Avenue, a side street of semi-detached 1930s houses just off the main A40 road towards central London, remained sealed off today.

John Newbury, whose family lives on an adjoining street, said his 16-year-old daughter, heard a single scream at around the time the attack is believed to have taken place. "She was doing her homework, upstairs in the bedroom with the window open, and at about seven o'clock heard a scream. She just thought it was people messing about."

A man living directly opposite where the victim was found, who asked not to be named, said he had been oblivious until he left his house. "As I went to my car I could see a woman lying on the pavement in a big pool of blood, with people round her. I went to check on her but the ambulance crew arrived."

Other neighbours described the street as the occasional scene of low-level crime, mainly connected to drugs, but generally peaceable. "My son went out of the house and more or less slipped in the blood," said Kathy Johnson. "He didn't hear anything, nor did my daughter – they were both in the house at the time. It's pretty scary when you think this happened so close to where we live."