Corby community 'in shock' after death of Harshita Brella as police seek murder suspect husband

People living in a community near a woman at the centre of a murder inquiry have described the situation as "scary and worrying".

They spoke to ITV News Anglia after police revealed that their neighbour Harshita Brella had been found dead in the boot of a car in London.

Officers have since launched an international manhunt to try to find her husband Pankaj Lamba, who is believed to have killed her in Northamptonshire before driving her body to Ilford and fleeing the country.

One neighbour had reported hearing screaming from the house where the couple had lived together.

People on the housing estate in Corby where the couple were living in separate homes said they were coming to terms with the grim news.

Warehouseman Ryan Morgan, 31, who lives nearby with his girlfriend and two boys, described Ms Brella's death as shocking.

He said he had seen a police car parked in the area for several days before finding out what had happened.

"We were a bit curious about why it was there," he told ITV News Anglia.

"My girlfriend's dad asked the police officer and he said something to do with a domestic.

"Then we saw a forensic team in white suits walking past so I was curious. There's been a lot of police walking about and then we heard why - the girl was murdered. Naturally we were scared; I've got two young boys, and naturally we are worried."

Mr Morgan said a police woman had come to question him but he was not able to tell officers much about the couple as he had only lived in the area since May.

"We don't really know many of the neighbours. From now on we keep the door locked at all times, as we don't really know what happened in that situation," he said.

Prashant Odetra, who runs Lincoln Way Stores in the area, said the couple came to his store to shop.

"They used to come here once or twice a week, sometimes at the weekend. They didn't talk much about themselves... We didn't know much about them; they were just quiet and used to buy whatever they wanted and go home.

"They were quiet and didn't share any details with them. We didn't think there was any problem - they were quiet and decent, like normal working people.

"What was happening in their personal life we didn't know."

Mr Odetra said he was feeling upset and unsettled about what had happened.

"I am feeling really bad for them," he said.

ITV News Anglia's Matthew Hudson - at the scene

On Corby's Kingswood estate there's shock and sadness following the death of Harshita Brella... but it's sadness for a young woman few seem to have known.

The area around Skegness Walk where the 24-year-old had been living following the separation from her husband is a rabbit warren of narrow roads and walkways.

Many people here talk of keeping themselves to themselves and it seems Harshita was the same, with even folk who live very close by telling us they had never spoken to or even noticed her.

Even in her local shop, unlike other customers she and her husband never joined in the chatting and gossip that goes on in any local community, although they would go in to buy things two or three times a week.

It has emerged that the couple were separated and that Pankaj Lamba was living in the house they had previously shared on Sturton Walk while his wife had moved out to a house in nearby Skegness Walk, on the same estate.

Northamptonshire Police said they were carrying out extra patrols in Corby.

They said they believed the incident was not a threat to anyone else in the town.

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