Man arrested on suspicion of murder after midwife's body is found in burnt out flat in London

Police at the scene where the body of Eulin Hastings, 74, was found
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A murder inquiry is under way today after the body of a grandmother was found in the burned out wreckage of her home in south London.

Eulin Hastings, 74, was pronounced dead after firemen recovered her body from the smouldering ground-floor flat on Tuesday.

Detectives are linking the murder of Mrs Hastings with a break-in minutes earlier in a neighbouring street.

Police officers responding to reports of a separate burglary in South Norwood chased a man through back gardens before he was cornered on a garage roof.

Witnesses said the suspect spent five hours refusing requests to come down, demanding cigarettes and making calls on his mobile phone before he was finally arrested.

Homicide detectives are now invesigating both incidents and trying to establish how Mrs Hastings died.

Vctim: Eulin Hastings

Friends today paid tribute to Mrs Hastings, a mother of three with two young grandchildren who worked as a midwife at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, for more than 30 years.

Bunches of flowers have been placed outside her semi-detached home in Birchanger Road where she had lived since taking retirement eight years ago.

Neighbour Janice Kentfield, 42, a care worker, said : “She was a church going lady, a nice, normal neighbour who you would have a pleasant conversation with.

“She has one older son who would come and look after her. She was very independent and youthful. She still drove her own car, a silver Mercedes. It’s just sickening.”

Ms Kentfield returned home moments after fire crews arrived to find thick black smoke pouring out of the ground floor flat.

Fire crews tried to resuscitate Ms Hastings for several minutes until paramedics arrived.

Ms Kentfield added: “The whole place looked like a warzone. It was chaos.

“The fire fighters were absolutely brilliant. They brought her out and tried to save her life. I can’t praise them enough.”

A close friend said: “She was the most loving and caring person, devoted to the church and her family who visited her regularly.

“She was born on February 14 so I used to call her ‘My Valentine’.”

Terry Booth, 57, who lives in nearby Christie Drive, told the Standard how he came face-to-face with the suspect as he fled police.

Mr Booth said he saw the man standing in his next-door neighbour’s back garden and heard him say “I’m in trouble bruv. I need help”.

He said : “He wasn’t aggressive. I didn’t have a confrontation with him – I just told him I couldn’t help.

“That’s when I noticed the police helicopter. I thought he was quite calm.

The man climbed onto a garage roof where he remained for more than five hours before surrendering to waiting police officers at 8.05pm.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Detectives believe that the murder and the burglary are linked and enquiries are underway to establish the circumstances.

“Both incidents occurred during the middle of the afternoon and there is a possibility that someone may have seen something that could assist detectives with their investigation.”

A post-mortem on Mrs Hasting’s body proved inconclusive and further tests are being carried out.

A 26-year old man is being held in custody on suspicion of murder and burglary.

Witnesses should call police on 020 8721 4805.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in