A 40-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man are in police custody after the badly-decomposed body of a young child was found at a Bradford house.

Officers made the grim discovery when they were called to the terraced property in Crofton Road, Heaton, after neighbours raised concerns about the occupants.

Detailed forensic examinations are being carried out on the dead child, who police say was a three and a half year-old boy, to try to establish the cause of death.

Detectives in the Homicide and Major Inquiry Team at West Yorkshire Police are leading the investigation.

A Force spokesman said: “Indications were that the child had been dead for some time when we attended.”

A single Police Community Support Officer was outside the mid- terrace house in Crofton Road today.

A bunch a flowers with a small teddy attached had been tied to a tree in the small front garden.

A note on it, addressed to the little boy, said: "Sleep tight little angel."

A female neighbour, who did not want to be named, said a woman and her family had lived at the house for about two years, but she did not know them well.

“She is my neighbour, but I don’t see her very often,” she said. “I saw her go away in a police car. I am very shocked that this has happened.”

A mother-of-two, who also lives in Crofton Road and did not want to be named, said: “They were a very distant kind of family, didn’t really mix with anyone.

“When we saw the forensics people, we thought someone had died.”

She added: “It’s scary to think something like that could happen on your doorstep. Even now I’m struggling to believe it’s happened. It makes you realise what you’ve got.”

Officers were first called to the house at about 2.40pm on Wednesday.

The police spokesman said last night: “Officers attended and discovered the body of a young child. Inquiries are ongoing to determine a cause of death.

“A 40-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the death of the child and remains in police custody.”