SHOCK reverberated through the Bournemouth community yesterday as residents tried to come to terms with a young man’s violent death.

Our front page picture shows the emotional moments as the victim’s friends struggle to deal with the devastating news.

Surrounded by armed police at Lansdowne Mews, they hold their hands to their faces in stunned grief.

Girls screaming and shouting for help in broken English raised the murder alarm.

Phil Quinlan, an undertaker at Head and Wheble funeral directors, heard the start of the drama from his workshop overlooking the block of flats above Downes Wine Bar.

Mr Quinlan said: “I just heard voices shouting.

“It was girls shouting for help in broken English: ‘Help’ or ‘Come, somebody, help us’.”

Two girls and a young man had been standing at the top of a metal staircase by the flat now at the heart of a murder inquiry, he said.

He estimated the group were in their early 20s or late teens.

Mr Quinlan added: “I think they had been stood there for a short time.

“I don’t know why but they couldn’t get in or didn’t have a key.

“Maybe someone let them in. Within a couple of minutes they came out screaming for help.”

Builders working on scaffolding around Downes and the flat above rushed to help, Mr Quinlan said.

The Daily Echo understands they saw a decapitated body.

People ran out into the alley, shouting for someone to call the police, he added.

“It’s a shame,” Mr Quinlan said.

“It seems the world has got quite violent.”

Another worker at the undertakers said: “The Spanish girls were crying and screaming for help and the builders went inside and they called the police.

“It was pretty horrible.”

Italian Nicole Rizzi, 18, lives in the same block of flats. She said: “I was cooking and I heard women screaming.

“Then 15 minutes later all the police arrived.”

John Wight, from Stafford Road, and his partner were shaken by the recent events.

Mr Wight, a former Royal Marine, said: “It’s a bit distressing. It’s surprising it has happened around here. It used to be quite safe.”