Nahid Almanea and James Attfield murders: Boy arrested

Nahid Almanea was attacked on her way to university and James Attfield was stabbed a few months earlier

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested over the murders of two people in Colchester.

Saudi national Nahid Almanea, 31, was stabbed 16 times as she walked to the University of Essex campus last June.

James Attfield, 33, was found with 102 knife wounds in Castle Park last March.

Essex Police said the boy, from Colchester, was arrested on Tuesday on Salary Brook Trail on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapon. He was then arrested over the murders.

The boy was held on the same footpath where Ms Almanea was killed on 17 June, as she walked from her student accommodation in Woodrow Way to the university complex in Wivenhoe.

The teenager is currently in custody at the town's police station.

Police previously said there could be a link between the two murders, but both killings were so vicious they could not tell if the same weapon was used.

In April, Saudi Arabian officials visited Colchester for a murder briefing.

Saudi officials recently visited Salary Brook Trail where Nahid Almanea died from her wounds

Ms Almanea often walked along Salary Brook Trail to the campus with her brother, who lived with her.

But on 17 June she was alone, wearing a dark robe and hijab scarf when she was attacked. Several thousand people attended her funeral in her homeland.

Mr Attfield was found on the Riverside Path in Colchester in the early hours of 29 March.

The father of five, who suffered a severe brain injury when he was hit by a car in 2010, was seen at the town's River Lodge pub the night before his death.

Several arrests have been made in connection with Mr Attfield's murder, although each time the person arrested was released from bail without charge.

Essex Police said inquiries were continuing into the murders and added that they would still like to hear from anyone with information.

James Attfield was filmed on CCTV cameras in Colchester's River Lodge pub hours before his murder