London police said the latest arrest of a 36-year-old man on Sunday marks a “significant development” in an investigation into the murder of primary school teacher Sabina Nessa.

Metropolitan Police said the man was arrested overnight in southern England and is being detained.

He is the third man arrested for the murder, along with two other men previously detained and released, but police said the latest arrest was a “significant development”.

Ms Nessa’s death – on her way to meet a friend minutes from her home – has fueled concerns that women are not safe on the streets of the UK capital.

Police first reported arresting a 38-year-old man, but later corrected his age to 36.

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Police had previously broadcast closed-circuit television footage of a man seen along Ms Nessa’s road the night she was killed, asking anyone who recognized him to contact them immediately.

Police said the man was wearing a reflective red object as he was possibly trying to hide his sleeve.

Ms Nessa, 28, was found dead in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on September 17, six months after the UK was rocked by the murder of Sarah Everard, 33, who was kidnapped , raped and murdered by a policeman on duty in south London.

Hundreds of people held a candlelight vigil for Ms Nessa over the weekend, demanding an end to violence against women.

“It gives the impression that we are stuck in a bad dream and cannot get out of it,” Ms. Nessa’s sister Jebina Yasmin Islam told the crowd.

“Our world is shattered, we are just lost for words.

“No family should go through what we are going through.”

PA