A man has been arrested after a woman was stabbed to death outside her home in Kerkrade.

The suspect, a 52-year-old man, fled the scene but was traced to the nearby town of Heerlen a few hours later after a public appeal.

Police would not confirm local media reports that the man was the former partner of the victim and had been given an anti-stalking order for harassing her.

One neighbour said the woman had been scared to go outside in recent months because of the constant threats. ‘Recently she didn’t come out of her house for two months because she was so frightened,’ the witness told De Limburger. ‘I only saw her if she was upstairs on the phone by the window. She had been frightened for her life for some time.’

Emergency services arrived within minutes of the stabbing but were unable to save the woman’s life. One witness said she had been stabbed in the neck.

Scream for help

‘I was in the kitchen and heard someone scream loudly for help,’ she said. ‘When I ran outside a man was standing bent over her. He ran away fast and was followed by two neighbours who were walking by and saw it happen.’

‘She was lying just behind the gate of her back garden on the street,’ said another witness. ‘He had stabbed her in the neck and she clearly couldn’t be saved. It was horrible to see.’

A helicopter and a German police team with sniffer dogs, as well as local volunteers, searched an area on both sides of the border for the suspect until he was located at around 4pm.

Police say they are continuing to investigate the incident, including the motive for the attack and the possible relationship between the suspect and the victim.