Neighbours have spoken of their shock after a woman was stabbed to death in Bruce Grove this afternoon.

The victim, believed to be 40 or 50 years old, was found after police received reports of an attack in Bruce Grove at around 1pm today.

She was taken by ambulance to a central London hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Police closed Bruce Grove Road as they investigated the crime scene.

Vladimir Parlato, who lives in the street, said: “Tottenham can be a rough place but incidents like this are very shocking and not common at all.

“To be honest the last time this road was closed was during the riots in 2011.

“During the day everything is very quiet and peaceful – during the night it can be dodgy – but normally it’s quite safe.”

A 46-year-old man was arrested at the scene and has been taken to a north London police station where he remains in custody.

Ender Toraman, who works in Teddy’s Mini Market on the corner of Bruce Grove and Hartham Road, said this sort of violence is caused by social problems.

He said: “A lot of the people around here have to deal with drug and alcohol problems and I think that has a lot to do with the violent incidents.

“Obviously it’s sad that this has happened but I’m not entirely surprised by it.”

An investigation has been launched by detectives from Haringey, assisted by officers from Homicide & Major Crime Command.

After hearing about the incident, Tottenham MP David Lammy tweeted his sympathies to the victim’s family.

He said: “My heart goes out to the family of the woman stabbed in Tottenham today. Credit to passersby and emergency services for doing what they could.

The Labour MP added: "I will speak to local police as soon as possible to find out more details and to discuss knife crime prevention."