Woman under arrest as man is found dead (PICTURES)

A WOMAN has been arrested in connection with the death of a man whose body was discovered in a flat.

The body was found yesterday morning on the ground floor of a Victorian terraced building in Vale View, Porthill.

Police are currently treating the death as unexplained, but a post-mortem examination is due to take place today.

The woman who was arrested was taken from the scene to hospital, where she remained overnight.

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Staffordshire Police said the man has not been formally identified, but officers believe they know who he is.

The road was cordoned off for several hours while forensics officers examined the scene, and the house remained cordoned off overnight.

A number of people inside the building were removed through second and third floor windows by fire crews using an aerial ladder platform.

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An officer enters the hallway where the body of a man was found.

A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: "We were called to a house in Vale View, Newcastle, at 7.40am and sent an ambulance and rapid response vehicle.

"When we arrived there was nothing that could be done to save the man and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

"We were called back to the same address at 10.05am and took a woman to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, but we are unable to confirm her injury."

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The woman being arrested brought down from the top floor of the building.

Sarah Fodden lives next door to the terraced house, containing flats, where the body was found.

The 21-year-old, who works at Argos on Festival Park, said: "I live in the second floor flat and I looked out the window and saw a fire engine and police cars, so I came down and asked a police officer what was going on.

"He told me there was a girl stuck in the flat next door and they were trying to get her out.

"I thought there must have been more to it because police were everywhere, and then an ambulance came and a woman was carried out on a stretcher.

"The firefighters used an aerial ladder platform to reach the top floor window and brought two girls out through it, and then they brought out a man through the second floor window.

"I've lived here since March but I don't really know the neighbours very well."

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Businessman Paul Evans, who lives in Chelmsford Road, Wolstanton, was on his way to work when he drove past the incident in Vale View.

The 51-year-old told The Sentinel: "I was driving to the office and sat in a queue of traffic approaching Porthill roundabout when I noticed all the commotion. There were about six or seven police cars blocking off the end of the road, a fire engine with a rescue platform and an ambulance.

"I thought someone must have died as there were scenes of crime officers wandering about."