A woman who was stabbed to death in an Aldi supermarket was working in the store at the time, the town’s mayor has said.

The 30-year-old was attacked in the store in Skipton, North Yorkshire, at about 15:30 GMT on Thursday. Customers and colleagues helped by pinning down the attacker before police arrived. A 44-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Skipton Mayor Andy Rankine said the whole town was in shock over the death. Mr Rankine said: «Skipton is a small but close-knit community where most people know each other. «We are in shock about the sad events of yesterday where a store worker was murdered whilst going about her duties.»

People have left messages on a community Facebook page, saying the married victim was a mother and describing her as a «bubbly, lovely girl». Another customer said she had seen the Aldi employee earlier that day wearing a Christmas jumper on shift.

Flowers have been left in the supermarket car park and two friends of the woman, pushing small children in buggies, described their friend as «a truly lovely woman and very popular». They said no-one had anything bad to say about her and they were «simply devastated».
The whole Aldi store and its car park remain cordoned off by police. Two officers are guarding the entrance but there isn’t much police activity to be seen through the brightly-lit supermarket windows.

Trolleys full of shopping can be seen in the aisles and food at the checkouts. Christmas shoppers unaware of what happened here yesterday are still arriving. No-one is saying when the shop will reopen.

Among the tributes left in the car park, one says: «In our thoughts, from all of us at Tesco in Skipton.» Another says: «To our dear beautiful sweet friend, we are all broken. Sorry we never got our girls’ night, here’s a glass to you.»

Shoppers had described how they were left terrified when the attack happened at the store in Keighley Road, with witness saying everyone «screamed and ran up and down».

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said: «The suspect was initially detained by brave members of staff and public, before he was arrested by officers who were quickly on scene. «He was taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder, but it has now turned into a murder investigation despite the efforts of medics to save the victim.» He added they were not in a position to identify the victim at this stage, but her family was being supported by specialist officers.

The force said the attack was not terror-related or believed to be a hate crime. In a statement released on Friday, Aldi said the store would be closed until further notice to allow police to carry out investigations. A spokesperson said: «We are working with the police following an incident at our Skipton store.»