A Ghanaian man has been arrested in connection with the murder of 47-year-old Miriam Azzopardi, who was found dead in a field by a main road in Marsa on Wednesday morning.

Azzopardi was strangled by her aggressor and found under some trees in Triq is-Salib tal-Marsa at around 10:20am on Wednesday after a member of the public spotted her body and advised Community Police Officers who were patrolling close by.

The woman was identified later in the afternoon as Maltese national Miriam Azzopardi who was 47 years old and who lived in St Paul's Bay.

The police's first official statement gave no details about the circumstances around the woman's death, although it was understood to be considered as suspicious.  A statement issued by the police just after 4pm confirmed that Azzopardi had been strangled and that her death was being treated as a homicide.

Officers combed through CCTV footage from the area in order to understand when the woman may have died and the circumstances surrounding it. A red handbag was also found close to the woman’s body.

It was just after 8pm that the police issued a statement saying that a man had been arrested in connection with the murder.

Police said that the man – a 34-year-old Ghanaian national – was arrested at 7:10pm in Marsa. Clothing that could be relevant to the case was elevated from the scene of his arrest.

Magistrate Joe Mifsud is leading an inquiry.

The scene where the body was found is the same place where the body of 20-year-old Sion Grech was found in 2005.  Grech was stabbed 17 times and subsequently dumped in that field.  Two men were found not guilty of her murder by a jury in 2023.