North Wales Police launched a murder investigation in Prestatyn after a body was found in a van that was on fire on Gas Works Lane. Emergency services were called to the road in Denbighshire at about 23:30 BST on Sunday, and officers later arrested a 38-year-old man on suspicion of murder.
Det Ch Insp Zoie Dunkerley said the investigation was still in the early stages. The person found in the van has not been identified, leaving detectives with a missing name at the centre of a case that already has one arrest and one criminal inquiry.
Gas Works Lane on Sunday night
North Wales Police asked anyone who was in the Gas Works Lane area of Prestatyn between 22:45 and 23:45 on Sunday and saw or heard anything unusual to get in contact. That window covers the period just before and after the callout, which makes it the main stretch of time investigators are using to build the sequence around the van fire.
The force said there will be an increased police presence in the area as inquiries continue. For residents and nearby businesses, that means officers are still treating the road as an active scene while they try to reconstruct what happened before the fire, during it, and immediately after the discovery.
Chris Bell on family support
Det Supt Chris Bell said, "Once the identity is known, specialist trained officers will be assigned to support their family as soon as possible." He also said, "We understand this incident may cause concern within the local community, and I would like to reassure the public that there is a visible policing presence in the area."
The practical consequence is simple: police want witnesses from a one-hour period, the family has not yet been formally supported through identification, and the arrest has not resolved the two facts that matter most now — who died and how the van fire began.
