A body found in Ribbleton during the early hours of Thursday morning is now thought to be a woman.

Preston Police initially said a man had died and launched a murder investigation.

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Now police say the body found at 2am off Pope Lane was that of a woman. She has not yet been formally identified.

A post mortem examination to determine the cause of the woman’s death will take place in due course.

A police cordon has been in place at the junction with Village Drive throughout Thursday.

An altercation took place in Pope Lane and saw emergency services called.

DCI Geoff Hurst from Lancashire’s Force Major Investigation Team (FMIT) said: “We are still at the very early stages of our investigation and our priority is getting in contact with the woman’s family.

“We know that she has been the victim of a brutal assault and we have a number of detectives working on finding out exactly what has happened to her. I would urge anyone who may have seen or heard anything in the area at the time to get in touch as soon as possible as you could have vital information that could help our investigation.

“The woman’s body remains where it was found whilst we carry out our forensic inquiries and this could take some time. I would like to reassure local residents that we are trying to keep disruption in the area to a minimum and we have stepped up patrols. If you have any concerns, please speak to an officer.”

A 25-year-old man from Preston was arrested close to the scene on suspicion of murder and remains in custody at this time.

Read more: See the latest news and headlines for Preston

Anyone with information about the incident can call 101 quoting incident reference 88 of today (February 7th). If you are concerned that this woman may be a relative, you can also call 101 but instead quote log 433 of February 7th.