Residents on Long Leaves in Stevenage were told to stay indoors this morning after they woke up to find their homes cordoned off by police as part of a murder investigation.

Officers had been called to Angle Ways at 4.20am after reports that a man had been found lying in the street.

Police later confirmed the man, in his 40s, had suffered serious injuries and was taken to the town’s Lister Hospital – where he was pronounced dead.

A number of residents told the Comet they were unable to leave their homes due to a police cordon put up around the crime scene.

A man said police were asking questions from door to door this morning and told people they were looking for a knife.

Three men – an 18-year-old from London, a 35-year-old from Stevenage and a 57-year-old also from the town – have all been arrested on suspicion of murder, as has a 43-year-old woman from Stevenage.

Much of the police cordon has now been lifted except for the front garden of a house in Long Leaves which has a white police tent outside.