A 45-year-old woman has been stabbed to death in Swindon this afternoon.

Three woman have been arrested and are being held in custody.

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: "Police were called to Evelyn House, Swindon, at 3.45pm  following a report of a serious assault. The victim, a 45-year-old woman was taken to the Great Western Hospital by ambulance but sadly died as a result of the injuries sustained.

"We are currently in the process of informing her next of kin. Inquiries are ongoing."

Eveleyn House is in Cavendish Square, off Whitbourne Avenue in Park South. Five police cars remain in the square. The Wiltshire Air Ambulance landed at Oaktree Primary School to airlift the woman to the Great Western Hospital.

A neighbour living adjacent to Evelyn House described seeing blue lights outside her property before hearing chilling screams.

She said: “I was just giving the kids tea when I heard sirens and saw blue lights. The kids asked what was going on so I went out to look.

“When I got outside there was lots of shouting and I heard a woman shouting ‘my mum is dead, my mum is dead'.”

A woman who knew the victim but did not want to be named said: “I first knew about it when someone rang and told me about it. I don’t think it has sunk in yet.

“It’s actually really scary and as you can imagine I am pretty upset.”

Another witness said: “It was all over Facebook and people were telling us to make sure we got our children inside.

"People knew quite quickly it was a stabbing and the woman had died even though she was taken to hospital. When it happened there were a lot of police and the helicopter landed at Oaktree Primary.”

Evelyn House is owned by the council and provides accommodation for families or single people who are either homeless or are at risk of being made homeless.

It supports people primarily aged between 18 and 64 with a total of 16 flats, five one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom.

The aim is for people staying at Evelyn House to only be there for a short period of time before a longer-term solution can be found. 

Police are appealing for anyone with information about the stabbing to call them on 101.