A MANHUNT is under way after a Huddersfield woman was murdered in London.

Springwood woman Louisa Brannan was found stabbed to death in a flat in Sutton, Greater London, at 6.45am on Monday.

The 35-year-old drug addict had previously lived at Water Street in Huddersfield.

She was a mother of three whose life had been blighted by drug problems.

Her identity was confirmed yesterday by the Metropolitan Police. It is thought she sustained multiple stab wounds.

Police have now launched a manhunt for Reece Ludlow, 18, in connection with the murder after Ms Brannan’s body was found after a 999 call.

It is understood Ms Brannan and the suspect did not know each other and had met only the night before, going back to his flat together.

Senior officers at the Met are warning people who see Reece not to approach him.

Ms Brannan, of no fixed address, lived in Huddersfield until she was sentenced to prison in 2009.

In 2008 Ms Brannan appeared before Liverpool Crown Court after headbutting and biting a blind grandmother in a bid to steal her handbag.

Ms Brannan demanded the handbag of Alice Stapleton, then 54, who is registered blind.

But when her victim refused to hand it over, Ms Brannan, then aged 33, grabbed it.

She escaped with the bag, but was arrested two days later on August 4, 2008, after she used Mrs Stapleton’s stolen mobile to call several taxi firms and gave an address.

She was interviewed by Merseyside Police, but denied the offence and was released on bail.

Six weeks later, Ms Brannan targeted another vulnerable woman, Patricia Gordon, then aged 65, who was waiting at a bus stop in Borough Road, Birkenhead.

Ms Brannan, then aged 33, was arrested shortly after the robbery after being challenged by a witness.

Her DNA was later matched to a swab taken from Mrs Stapleton’s hand.

It was said in court that the Huddersfield woman’s life had been blighted by drugs since she was 13 and that she was a heroin addict.

Brannan admitted robbery and was sentenced to four years in prison, but was released earlier this year.

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command (HSCC) team are now investigating her murder.