A YOUNG woman died after suffering horrific injuries in a frenzied knife attack in a Southampton churchyard.

Emergency services found the 23-year-old woman lying in a pool of blood at the back entrance to the church just yards from one of the city's busiest roads.

The incident happened in the driveway of Avenue St Andrew's United Reformed Church between Alma Road and the Avenue.

A 33-year-old man was arrested near the scene of the attack, which happened at about 8.15pm on Saturday night.

He was questioned at a city centre police station before being charged with the murder shortly before 11pm last night.

The man, who has not been named, is now due to appear before Southampton Magistrates' Court later today.

The Daily Echo understands the pair are a married couple, thought to be of either Russian or eastern European origin.

The knife attack took place shortly after dark on Saturday night about 20 yards from The Avenue, the city's major link with the motorways.

Police were unable to elaborate on where the pair had come from or were headed, but appealed for anyone using the busy A33 at the time to come forward.

They raced to the scene following an emergency 999 call shortly after 8pm and found the woman lying critically injured.

She had suffered multiple stab wounds to her chest.

Southampton ambulance staff were on the scene within four minutes of being called by police.

Crews battled to save her at the scene but she suffered heart failure following the attack and died shortly after arriving at Southampton General Hospital.

Church services went ahead yesterday (Sunday) in honour of the victim as forensics teams dressed head to toe in white boiler suits continued to scour the churchyard for clues.

The Rev Cliff Bembridge, the church's minister, said parishioners were being welcomed as normal at a glass-fronted meeting area for the 100-year-old red-brick church, which has about 300 members, and services were being held as usual.

He added: "Obviously we are devastated there's been such an incident in the church grounds. In both our services at 8.30am and 10.30am we remembered all concerned in our prayers.

"When I left here at 7pm on Saturday everything was fine, but I happened to walk past at about 11pm and was told by the police what they had found."

He added: ''The congregation were shocked to hear what had happened and were deeply sympathetic to the family involved.''

Members of the 125-strong congregation arriving for the 10.30am service were clueless as to a motive for the horrific attack.

Neighbours and passers-by were also shocked to hear of the incident in the quiet residential area between the city centre and Portswood.

Ann Binns runs Bitter Virtue - The Southampton Beer Shop on the junction of Alma Road and Cambridge Road, just yards from a police cordon blocking off much of Alma Road, and also lives across the road.

She said: "The first we knew of it was when the police arrived. I didn't hear a scream or anything and you would have hoped you would have a chance to let out a scream in such circumstances.

"The most noise we normally get is from students who come home after a night out and have forgotten where they live or have just moved to.

"It's very disconcerting when something like that happens so close to home."

But another resident, who asked not to be named, said she was considering leaving the area after hearing of several unrelated but violent incidents in Portswood and Inner Avenue.

The woman, who lives in Alma Road, said: "This is awful.

"But it isn't the first bit of violence I've heard of around here and I'm just not sure I feel safe anymore."

Much of the road remained cordoned off as detectives spent yesterday afternoon carrying out house-to-house enquiries nearby.

Uniformed police officers stood at each end of the cordons speaking to passers-by.

The victim is thought to have been found a short way up a driveway which runs between the back of Avenue St Andrew's and church buildings and leads to the church car park.

Members of Hampshire police's major crime team set up an incident room at Hulse Road police station where they ran an inquiry, codenamed Operation Dayton.

Home Office pathologist Basil Purdue was due to carry out a post-mortem examination last night and the results were not expected to be released until today.

Police said they hope to name the woman today when the post-mortem has been completed, and her body has been formally identified. Officers will also have to track down and inform members of her family.

A police spokesman said: "Detectives would like to hear from anyone who may have seen or heard anything suspicious in the area of the church on Saturday evening or may have information that could help the investigation."

Anyone with information is urged to call the Operation Dayton incident room on 0845 045 4545 or the anonymous Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111.