A murder investigation has been launched after a man was stabbed to death in a quiet Plumstead estate.

The victim, a man in his 20s, was found dead in Bournewood Road, Plumstead yesterday afternoon.

Met Police officers and paramedics from London Ambulance Service were called at 4.30pm, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

His next of kin have been informed. Formal identification and a post-mortem examination will be scheduled in due course.

Locals on the otherwise quiet estate have said they’ve been shocked as nobody can remember anything similarly grim happening there.

Janice, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 30 years and refused to give her surname, said the worst she could remember was when a spate of burglaries happened when she first moved in.

She said: “A lot of people don’t usually move out. That’s how they advertised this place.

“It’s the last place you move before you die but when they advertised that I can’t imagine they thought it would be by a machete rather than old age.”

The area has been cordoned off by police and witnesses claimed the victim may have been stabbed with a machete.

Harry Gerr, who lived on the adjacent street, said: “There were police everywhere, I didn’t hear about it until my friend who lives on the main road told me what was going on.

“I didn’t go out and look because I didn’t want to poke into a very grim matter.”

Another neighbour, who wouldn't be named, said: “I heard a helicopter overhead but we get a lot of helicopters so I didn’t pay any attention to it. It was only when I looked out at about 5pm did I see what was going on.

“I have never seen that many police, there were about eight or nine of them and the road was blocked off.”

No arrests have been made.

The homicide and major crime command has been informed and Scotland Yard’s enquiries continue.

To offer information, call 101 or tweet @MetCC

To offer information anonymously, call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.