Students among victims stabbed to death in Nottingham rampage

Suspect arrested after three people killed and three others injured in early morning attack

- Vikram Dodd, Jessica Murray, Helen Pidd

Two 19-year-old students and a man in his 50s were stabbed to death and a further three people injured when a stolen van was driven into them in an early morning rampage across Nottingham yesterday.

A 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Counter-terrorism police were helping officers with their investigation but Nottinghamshire police said they were keeping an "open mind" about the motive.

The two Nottingham University students were found unresponsive on Ilkeston Road, west of the city's centre, at 4am yesterday. One of them was named as Barnaby Webber.

Detectives believe the suspect then stole a white van, whose driver was later found stabbed to death on Magdala Road, two miles from where the teenagers were found.

The van was then driven into people standing at a bus stop near Nottingham's Theatre Royal at about 5.30am, leaving one man in critical condition, with two others having suffered minor injuries, police said. Officers said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the attacks. During the hours afterwards, armed police staged a series of raids across the east Midlands city.

Nottingham University said two people found dead in the street at about 4am in Ilkeston Road were its students: "It is with great sadness that we confirm the sudden and unexpected death of two of our students following a major incident in Nottingham city centre overnight." 

The Student Union's graduation ball due to take place last night - was abandoned.