British woman 'killed in murder-suicide' in Sydney

Police in Australia are investigating  a suspected murder-suicide in which an English woman in her 20s was allegedly killed by her partner, a man in his 20s.

The bodies were reportedly discovered by the couple’s landlord in an apartment above a Persian restaurant on King Street in Newtown, a bustling road in the inner west of Sydney.

“At this stage we suspect it is a possible murder-suicide,” New South Wales Police Inspector Geoff Olsen told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

Police have appealed for information about the crime.

“Investigators are still trying to piece together the last moments of those involved,” a police spokesman told The Telegraph.

The bodies were found inside their small apartment at about 5.30pm on Friday.

Officials from the British embassy have been in contact with the woman's family. A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are providing consular assistance to the family of a British national who has died in New South Wales, Australia, and our staff are in contact with the New South Wales police."

The woman was planning to leave Australia, according to a report in The Daily Mail.

The nationality and identify of the man have not been released, although he is understood to not be from the UK.

Tenants of the Persian restaurant below, and of an adjoining Japanese restaurant, said they did not know the pair.

Police would not confirm the identities or nationalities of the pair.

The deaths are being investigated by officers from the local Newtown command and from the state’s homicide squad.