A murder investigation has been launched and a man arrested after a builder was found fatally injured on the roof of a commercial building in Hatton Garden in central London. The victim, a 47-year-old man who worked as a builder and was carrying out work at the venue, was pronounced dead at the scene at 3.07pm on Tuesday.

Initial reports indicated that the man may have fallen from a height, but Metropolitan police officers now believe he was the victim of a serious assault. A 24-year-old man was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of murder and has been taken to a south London police station.

DCI Luke Marks, of the Met’s homicide and major crime command, said: “At this early stage in the inquiry, it is believed that the victim was viciously attacked by an unknown suspect, inflicting injuries that have resulted in his death.

“We have made one arrest, but our investigation continues apace. Our priority now is to trace a man who made off from Hatton Garden towards Chancery Lane and boarded a Central line train at Chancery Lane tube station at around 14:15 hours.”

Marks urged members of the public to get in touch if they remembered seeing a man running towards Chancery Lane at that time. The man was described as a white male, aged in his mid-20s. He was wearing a navy blue fleece jacket, blue jeans and brown work boots.

The next of kin of the man who died have been informed, but formal identification has not yet taken place.

Police are awaiting information on cause of death after a postmortem on Thursday.