A WOMAN Special Constable bled to death on the suburban street outside her home after she was stabbed by a suspected burglar.

Nisha Patel-Nasri, a volunteer policewoman for four years, suffered a single stab wound to her leg that appears to have severed her femoral artery after she confronted the intruder. A man in a hooded top was seen running away along Sudbury Avenue, Wembley, North London, soon after the attack on Wednesday night.

Mrs Patel-Nasri’s neighbours ran to her aid after hearing “a horrendous, dreadful scream” and found her barefoot, dressed in pyjamas and bleeding heavily. Her last words were: “Where am I?”

A thick trail of blood on the pavement clearly marked her stumbling steps before she fell. Scotland Yard reported that it was the second time in a week that Mrs Patel-Nasri, 29, had challenged intruders. Last Saturday night she had chased off three young black men.

Andrew Dinnie, a close friend, said that it was typical of Mrs Patel-Nasri to challenge troublemakers. “She cared about her neighbourhood. That’s why she was a special constable. She would be strolling the beat late at night, for no pay, dealing with drunks and idiots. I often asked her why she devoted so much time to it and she simply said that she wanted to put something back into the community.

“She had the courage to stand up to trouble. But she told me about the burglars the other night and said she was feeling a lot of stress. This is such a shock. Nisha was a wonderful person, very bubbly and lively. She was a charming woman and a great citizen.”

Mrs Patel-Nasri, who ran her own hairdressing business, was alone in the house when she heard a disturbance outside. Fadi Nasri, whom she married in May 2003, has a limousine hire business and often works late at night. It is not clear whether her attacker was trying to gain entry to the couple’s home or was targeting Mr Nasri’s stretch limousines, two of which were parked outside the house.

Ganish Shah, a neighbour who went to Mrs Patel-Nasri’s aid, said that he heard screaming and looked outside.

“She had a torch raised to try and attract attention,” Mr Shah said. “She seemed to be limping. I ran out to her and she said she had been stabbed.”

Mrs Patel-Nasri then collapsed and Mr Shah said he could that see she was bleeding from a wound near the top of her leg. Another neighbour put a towel against it to stop the flow. By then Mrs Patel-Nasri had passed out.

As an ambulance took her away, neighbours managed to contact her husband who rushed to Northwick Park Hospital, where his wife was pronounced dead. The couple had been due to attend the Hindu wedding today of Mrs Patel-Nasri’s brother. The ceremony has now been postponed.

Shamu Goraisn, a family friend, said that Mrs Patel- Nasri had suffered a series of tragedies in her twenties. Her father died of a heart attack five years ago and her mother died last year.

At Wembley Police Station, where Mrs Patel-Nasri was a member of the specials team, there was grief and anger at the loss of a colleague who had helped officers to build relations with the Asian community.

Detective Chief Inspector Julian Worker, who is leading the murder inquiry, said: “No loyalty, even to a family member or to a friend, is worthy of not coming forward.”

Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said: “It is a tragedy that a young woman who willingly gave up so much of her valuable free time to work as a police officer in her local community should lose her life in this terrible way.”



DEATH ON DUTY

• WPC Sharon Beshenivsky, 38, shot by armed robbers in Bradford last November
  
  
  
  
• WPC Alison Armitage, 29, died after being run over by a stolen car in March 2001 in Oldham while working undercover
  
  
  
  
• WPC Nina Mackay, 25, stabbed in October 1997 while attempting to arrest schizophrenic Magdi Elgizouli in Stratford, East London
  
  
  
• WPC Yvonne Fletcher, 25, shot in April 1984 outside the Libyan Embassy in London after gunmen inside the building opened fire
  
  
• WPC Jane Arbuthnot, 23, killed in the IRA bombing of Harrods in London in December 1983
  
  

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