‘Reclusive’ mother-of-two in her fifties is found ‘murdered’ near converted pub-home in Hampshire village known as the ‘cradle of cricket’ where houses cost £1.6m – as police arrest teenager
- Woman in her 50s was found dead in Hambledon, Hampshire, on Monday
- Victim has been named locally as mother-of-two Joanna Thompson
- Police arrested a teenager on suspicion of murder and they are in custody
- Hambledon is home to one of the oldest cricket clubs in the country
The victim has been named locally as mother-of-two Joanna Thompson (pictured) who lived in a converted pub in the village, where properties can sell for as much as £1.6million
A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was found dead in a Hampshire village known as the ‘cradle of cricket’.
Police found the body of a woman aged in her 50s after being called to a house in Hambledon, Hampshire, on Monday afternoon.
The victim has been named locally as mother-of-two Joanna Thompson who lived in a converted pub in the village, where properties can sell for as much as £1.6million.
Neighbours said she was a ‘very quiet’ woman and they did not see her around very often.
Police confirmed the teenager arrested is under 18 but would not disclose their gender. They remain in custody.
A female neighbour aged in her 70s, said: ‘The woman who lived there is called Joanna Thompson.
‘I didn’t really know her very well, but I sat next to her on a trip to France a few years ago, which we do as a village because we are twinned with a place in Normandy.
‘She was very shy, very quiet. That’s why no one really knows what has happened or much about her.’
Residents said she lived at the property with one of her sons and has an older son who has left home.
A woman in her 50s was found dead in Hambledon, Hampshire, pictured, and police have arrested a teenager on suspicion of murder. Pictured are officers at the scene today
Police have been in and out of a house in the Hampshire village today, and locals have named the victim as Joanna Thompson
Forensic teams, pictured, have also been at the site conducting their investigations
Captain Paul Quinn OBE, chairman of Hambledon Parish Council, said he had spoken to a police officer after hearing of an ‘incident’ yesterday afternoon and had urged residents to stay calm.
He said that police did not believe there was any risk to the wider community following the woman’s death.
Local resident Kate Solomon said she first heard the woman had died when she attended choir practice at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul last night.
She said: ‘I heard that sadly someone had died in the village and that people were being urged to keep calm and shouldn’t speculate on what had happened.’
A Hampshire Police spokesman said today: ‘We are investigating the death of a woman at a house in Hambledon.
Homes in the leafy village, pictured, can sell for as much as £1.6million
This map shows where the woman’s body was found in the Hampshire village
‘Officers were called at 12.39pm on Monday, July 1, to Vicarage Lane where the body of a woman in her 50s was discovered.
‘The woman’s next of kin have been informed, but formal identification procedures have not yet taken place.
‘A teenager from the Hambledon area has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody at this time.’
Hambledon, near Waterlooville, is best known as the ‘Cradle of Cricket’ after the formation of one of England’s first cricket clubs in 1750.
Hambledon was England’s leading cricket club from about 1765 until the formation of the MCC in 1787.
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