Crash victim may have been murdered

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Pc Claire Howarth, 31, was taken to hospital with a serious head injury and later died following the crash in Bolton at 2.25am on Thursday.

Her fiance and fellow police officer Martin Forshaw, 26, is being questioned on suspicion of murder.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said an investigation was under way "to establish how the victim sustained her injuries and the possibility she was attacked before the road traffic collision".

According to a police source, Pc Howarth's injuries were not consistent with the damage done to the car in the crash. A post-mortem examination should help detectives determine how the policewoman died.

John O'Hare, chief superintendent at the Rochdale divisional headquarters, said Pc Howarth's family and friends were "absolutely distraught, as we all are".

"Claire was a person who brought light into the police station," he said. "I've met with Claire's mother and she is obviously distraught and wants to just make the point that it is her daughter and she very much loved her."

Pc Howarth's silver BMW left the narrow Tottington Road, in Harwood, but there was no obvious major damage to the outside of the car. The policewoman was cut free from the vehicle and taken to Royal Bolton Hospital where she later died.

A police cordon surrounded the couple's home in Meadow Way, Tottington, Bury following the crash. Floral tributes were left tied to the railings of the modern, detached corner house, where neighbours said the couple had lived for about a year.

Pc Howarth had recently completed her two-year probationary period with the police and was set to become a community beat manager in Falinge, Greater Manchester.