Eight people have been arrested after a man died in hospital after being attacked in Kettering town centre.
The 50-year-old Kettering man died at Kettering General Hospital on Sunday after suffering fatal injuries during the ‘appalling’ assault in the early hours of Wednesday.
The local man was attacked in London Road, between Market Street and St Peter’s Avenue, police said.
Three Kettering women, aged 45, 40 and 23, three men aged 60, 55 and 31, from Kettering and one man aged 34 from Corby, have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and have been conditionally bailed.
One man from Kettering aged 34 has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody at this time.
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Murder detectives have been carrying out house-to-house inquiries, trawling CCTV footage in the area and gathering forensic evidence.
They asked locals who may have dash cam or smart doorbell footage during that time on the busy throughway to come forward.
DI Torie Harrison, who is leading the investigation, said: ‘The victim in this investigation suffered appalling injuries in the attack, which happened sometime between midnight and 4am last Wednesday. Sadly, and despite the best efforts of medical staff, they were so severe that he passed away in hospital earlier today.
‘As a result of this sad turn of events, we have now raised this to a murder investigation, and we continue to seek the public’s support in gathering evidence.
‘People will be understandably shocked by today’s news, but we will continue to keep an increased police presence in the local area, including high visibility patrols.
‘This remains a fast-moving investigation where we are looking at a number of lines of inquiry and we will seek to provide a further update tomorrow.’
A post-mortem was due to take place at Leicester Royal Infirmary later today.
Witnesses or anyone with information should call Northamptonshire Police on 101 or alternatively call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.