Police have launched a murder investigation after a woman was stabbed in the neck in a suburban street in east London.

The victim, 44, was found with critical injuries on a pavement yards away from a children’s nursery in Norfolk Road, Ilford, at 7.09pm on Wednesday.

Shocked witnesses described how the woman was lying in front of a row of terraced houses with “large gash wounds” to her neck.

Emergency services battled to save her but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 45-year-old man was arrested at an address in Newham on Thursday morning, Scotland Yard said.

One resident said: “I was at home when I heard this terrible scream, it didn’t seem real, I just thought it was kids messing around, then just a few minutes later I looked outside and there were all the police and paramedics. I think that scream must have been her.

“They did absolutely everything to try and save her, but they couldn’t.

“It’s such a horrible thing to happen.”

The woman was described by the witness as white, with light-coloured hair and a long coat.

“She just looked like someone who would have been coming home from work. It’s shocking,” he added.

Police in Redbridge cordoned off Norfolk Road and Cameron Road while they investigated the incident with colleagues from the Homicide and Major Crime Command.

The woman's next of kin have since been informed.

A forensics tent was set up at the scene of the killing across the road from a children’s nursery.

One woman who lives near the children’s home said: “I’m just gobsmacked, it’s very, very shocking. I’m very sorry for the poor girl.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Police were called by London Ambulance Service (LAS) to Norfolk Road, Ilford at 19:09hrs on Wednesday, 3 January following reports of an unresponsive woman in the street.

"Officers and London Ambulance Service attended and found a 44-year-old woman with serious stab injuries. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 19:16hrs.

"Next of kin have been notified but formal identification awaits.

"A post-mortem examination will be held in due course."