FREEMAN Street was the focus of police activity yesterday following the discovery of a man's body in a flat and a domestic incident on the market that left a man with serious stomach injuries.

Police and paramedics were first called at 8.15am to a flat at the Riby Square end. The area remains sealed off this morning (Wednesday).

The top end of the street was sealed off all day as armed officers, scenes of crimes investigators and police dogs combed the area for clues as the how the man, believed to be in his 40s, and according to nearby residents, of ethnic origin, died.

A man was arrested and remained in police custody overnight.

It is understood the man was already dead when they arrived, having been found by the owner of a neighbouring business, although this has not been officially confirmed.

Later in the day, part of adjacent Kent Street was closed off as police recovered a vehicle, which an officer at the scene said was "part of a major investigation".

Many businesses near to the flat that the investigation was centered on, were closed for the day.

Kathleen Reece-Brockett who owns and runs Kats Corner, which was one of the businesses closed for the day and is adjacent to the property in question, said: "I'm very upset – it's shocking that this happened. I often work in the shop by myself and it's unnerved and made me feel really vulnerable and uneasy about going back to work."

Another nearby business owner said: "It's a shame that this happened Freeman Street already has a bad reputation and with two incidents on the same day it's only getting worse."

A man who lives nearby added: "If something bad happens in this town it's usually on Freeman Street, and that really needs to stop."

A Humberside Police spokesperson said: "One man has been arrested following the incident as police work to ascertain the circumstances leading to the currently unexplained death of a man believed to be in his 40s.

"A road closure is currently in place between the top of Freeman Street and Kent Street and police are appealing for witnesses or information that would assist them in their investigation.

"At the same time, local neighbourhood teams will be providing an increased visible presence in the area in order to provide reassurance and address any community concerns."

Just 15 minutes after they were called to the first incident, police arrived at Freeman Street Market following what has been described as a "domestic incident".

Police have said the incidents were not linked.

A force spokeswoman said a man was taken to hospital for treatment to serious stomach injuries, although his condition is not thought to be life-threatening.

A 54-year-old woman was arrested following the incident.

Part of the market was sealed off yesterday as traders and customers were left shocked by the incident, which they said involved a market trader and his partner.

A fellow trader, who claims to be close friends with the people involved, said: "Somebody told me this morning what had gone on, and I couldn't believe it.

"It's totally out of the blue that this happened."

Another stallholder who did not wish to be named said: "They've been working here a long time now so it's quite a shock, they are two lovely people."

Another stallholder, who also wished to remain anonymous, said: "It was all over when we got here, but there were a lot of police still.

"I don't know them too well but we always say morning and goodbye to each other at the beginning and end of the day – they are always friendly."

A market regular added: "I've always enjoyed going to the stall and having a natter with them."

Detective Superintendent Bob Clark, head of crime investigation for North East Lincolnshire, said: "An investigation into what is thought to be a domestic-related incident is underway that has resulted in the arrest of 54-year-old woman, who remains in police custody while enquiries continue.

"We would still like to speak to anyone who may have witnessed the incident which left this man with serious injuries and ask anyone who can help with our enquiries to call 101 quoting log number 122 of Tuesday, October 21.

"We would also like to emphasise that this is an isolated incident between known individuals and that we are not looking for anyone else in connection with this matter, nor is it believed to be in any way connected to the earlier unexplained death of a man at a property on Freeman Street."

For further updates on both incidents, visit www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk throughout the day.

ON the face of it, Scott Brown's injury and Danny Parslow's return to York couldn't have come at worse time for Grimsby Town.

Impressive consecutive victories on the road at Wrexham and then Torquay had led many fans to wonder if the Mariners were finally beginning to click this season.

In both of those games, Brown and Parslow impressed in a midfield three, in which the latter was deployed in a more withdrawn role, shielding the back four and giving license for the former – and either Craig Clay or Craig Disley – to press their opponents higher up the field.

But now Paul Hurst is facing up to the prospect of being without the duo after Parslow was recalled from his loan spell by the Minstermen and Brown was ruled out for the next few weeks.

Early fears that the Scouser had broken his foot were allayed yesterday when a scan confirmed that the 29-year-old had 'only' suffered ligament damage.

The pair's absence will certainly be felt, as both have been among the Mariners' most consistent performers in recent weeks – Brown in particular, has been one of the stars of the season.

But it might not be as some Mariners fans first feared.

While any Conference club would miss the quality of the duo, Hurst has the strength in depth to cope. Clay has been one of the finds of the season after joining following a successful trial in the summer, while Disley looks like he could be recapturing his form of the last two seasons.

Paddy McLaughlin has mainly been restricted to substitute cameos of late, but the Northern Irishman has always looked at his most comfortable – and most effective – in the middle, while 17-year-old Josh Venney also showed glimpses of his potential in the recent Lincolnshire Senior Cup final against Lincoln City.

So while Parslow and Brown's absence will undoubtedly be a blow – it doesn't necessarily mean it will be fatal to Town's recent upturn.

What do you think? Comment on this story online at grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport

Matt Dannatt, Football Writer

Here, Non-League blogger of the year 'Too Good To Go Down' discusses the pros and cons of regionalised leagues...

WOULD it be better to regionalise League Two and the Conference Premier to cut down on costs?

That's the suggestion from Lincoln City chairman Bob Dorrian, who believes the two divisions should be merged to 'protect player wellbeing'.

The Imps boss has claimed Lincoln will spend £20,000 on away trips this season.

He made the suggestion after claiming his team's trip to Torquay – who the Mariners beat 3-2 last weekend – would cost the club £4,000 in travel and hotel bills.

This season, the northern clubs in the Conference Premier do have a rough ride when it comes to travel arrangements, with trips to Dover, Eastleigh, Dartford, Bristol and Wrexham all several hundred miles long.

Gateshead arguably have the worst travel problem – their games with Grimsby are almost a local derby in comparison to some of the trips they will have to make.

While Mr Dorrian's suggestion does have it's merits on paper, I think some may argue merging the two leagues is the only way Lincoln City are going to be playing the likes of Bury, Mansfield, York and Tranmere any time soon!

On a serious note though, with money ever tighter at lower league level – and I include many of the lower League One teams in that too – Mr Dorrian's suggestion does make a bit of sense.

Television money has created a monster in the upper echelons of the Premier League, with parachute payments creating 'haves' and 'have-nots' in the Championship.

But the amount of money that filters down the footballing tree is minuscule when you get to the level Grimsby Town are at now. And even then, once you've fallen through the Football League trapdoor into the Conference money to subsidise Youth football is cut too.

It's testament to the efforts of the football club and Mariners Trust that money has been made available to keep youngsters playing for various Grimsby Town Youth sides.

On the flip side, I think many of the bigger Conference sides will want to test themselves in a national competition, beating the best sides to win promotion to higher leagues.

And I really can't see any team in League Two voting to play some of the smaller Conference sides – it would be like turkeys voting for Christmas!

Visiting supporters don't follow in large numbers in this league as we see at Blundell Park every fortnight. It's only the Mariners who really travel in big numbers.

Of course the second tier of Conference football is already regionalised with teams from the north and south duking it out on a weekly basis.

Even then the league's not without controversy as Worcester City – a team very much in the southern half of England – are playing in the Conference North to even up the numbers.

I sympathise with Bob Dorrian's plight and, on paper, even agree with the sentiment. Clubs are facing financial difficulties at this level as Hereford and Salisbury will testify.

But the answer probably isn't in regionalisation – perhaps filtering more television money down into the non leagues may help alleviate this issue.

What do you think? Share your views below, tweet me @TooGoodToGoDown or visit toogoodtogodown.wordpress.com

FIVE-STAR striker Jonathan Ogelsby was the main man as Bradley Rovers shocked Premier Division DMS in the Senior Challenge Cup.

Ogelsby – who also plays for Cleethorpes Town – netted five times as the Division Three side beat their opponents 6-1.

Luke Martin scored the other goal for Bradley, who are back in league action against Abatis Athletic.

Rovers secretary James Martin said: "It was a really outstanding performance from our lads.

"We were confident in our own ability heading into the game and never let DMS get started.

"From the first whistle, we defended brilliantly and our attacking force was clinical."

"As for our next game against Abatis Athletic, we want to perform as we did against DMS and then win all our games.

"The desire and our team's understanding of one another are brilliant."

Cleethorpes United needed penalties to beat Crows Nest, having drawn 2-2 in normal time.

Chris Harmer and Sam Sarbutt scored for Clee, while Luke Fanthorpe and Lee McFarland replied for Crows in open play.

Clee secretary Neil Hope said: "This was a decent game between two evenly matched teams which could have gone either way.

"We knew they would try to get the ball in the box early but our back four dealt with this well, centre-backs Alex McKenzie and Peter Taylor were on top form.

"In the end it went to penalties and we came out on top."

On their upcoming league clash, Hope added: "We now play Immingham in the league, who can be a good side.

"We are new to the Premier Division and know there will be no easy games.

"We must be on our guard and at our best – but Jason Flint and Tommy King are back from Afghanistan and available for selection."

Holders GTF Seas are still in the competition, after winning 4-2 on penalties against Pattesons as the sides played out a 1-1 draw.

Elsewhere, Icelandic Seachill (Liam Wilkinson) drew 1-1 with Great Coates (Matthew Perry) but Seachill went on to win on penalties.

Cromwell (Sean Carlile 3, Andrew Chilton) went through to Round Three after winning 4-2 away to East Marsh Empire (Mark Hydes, David Smith).

Electrical Appliances Grimsby (Jason Chisnall 2, Kyle French) brought their league form to the cup when they won 3-1 against Bridge (Adam Sheard).

In-form Empire United (Daniel Durosemo) drew 1-1 with BBS Valiant (Scott Barber) in open play, but then went through 4-2 on penalties.

After another 1-1 draw, The Farmhouse won the shootout 3-2 against P&P Plumbing & Heating.

PAUL Hurst believes Grimsby Town's recent switch in formation has brought the best out of Lenell John-Lewis.

The powerful frontman was the Mariners' match-winner against both Wrexham and Torquay – leading the line with Scott Neilson and Jack Mackreth beside him.

The 25-year-old's brace at Torquay took him to seven league goals for the season – meaning he has already eclipsed his haul from last season after just 14 games.

Hurst said: "Lenny is a handful and I'm sure if you asked centre-halves in this league, they'd tell you that they don't enjoy playing against him.

"It can be a difficult role up there to play, but we're getting to grips with playing that formation and we're playing some good football – it's not just kicking the ball from back to front and making Lenny chase it because that would be a thankless task.

"We've got some good footballers – including Lenny – and we're trying to use them in this formation.

"At the minute, it's culminating in a good period for us and we want to extend that further."

HOLLY Clyburn has smashed through the 100,000-euro mark for the 2014 Ladies European Tour season.

As reported, the Cleethorpes professional narrowly missed out on her second LET triumph at the South African Women's Open last weekend.

After finishing level with home favourite Lee-Anne Pace at San Lameer Country Club, Clyburn lost out at the second play-off hole.

However, some consolation came with her second-placed cheque for more than 32,000 euros, which took her beyond the landmark 100k milestone once again.

Having earned more than 116,000 euros in her rookie campaign last year, the 23-year-old is now little more than 2,000 euros behind that mark, with four events to come.

Reflecting on her display in South Africa – where she carded rounds of 71, 70 and 70 – Clyburn remarked: "I played solid over the first 18 holes – I wasn't letting anything get away from me and I was plodding away.

"I was taking fairways and greens and two putts for the first so many holes and then I made the turn and I thought 'you've played well on this front nine and you liked from 10 on Thursday'.

"So I turned it on and made a great four on 13 and just made some great up and downs on 15 and 16."

Humberston pro Sophie Walker is also chasing a record season following her equal-22nd finish at the weekend.

Having topped the 50,000-euro mark in 2010, the 30-year-old has already earned more than 44,000 euros this year.

GRIMSBY Town physio Dave Moore believes Scott Brown could be back in action quicker than originally thought.

As revealed on grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport yesterday, a scan on the midfielder's injury has confirmed that he damaged ankle ligaments in the 3-2 victory over Torquay – and didn't break his foot, as was first feared.

Moore estimates that Brown, below, could be set for over a month on the sidelines, but held out hope for a 'pleasant surprise' during the recovery.

He explained: "Scott twisted his ankle, went over on his ankle around the 44th minute on Saturday.

"By the time the half-time break was up he felt well to continue. If you had watched him for the first 25-35 minutes of the second half you would have thought he was fine, no problem.

"I knew it was going to be sore after the game and so when he came off with 10-15 minutes to go, we put a compression bandage on it.

"He then didn't feel too bad on Sunday but he felt really bad when he got up on Monday morning.

"So he's had a plain x-ray on it, which shows no fracture – which is good news. It is hardest to diagnose during the first 48-72 hours so we'll see how it settles down this week.

"Certainly it is quite a nasty injury, but at the moment I am more optimistic than I was when he went for the x-ray.

"Right now, on the presentation, I would say he will be out for the best part of a month – maybe longer than that, maybe shorter than that.

"We might get a pleasant surprise, we might not – we'll see where we go from here."

GRIMSBY Town boss Paul Hurst would have loved a midweek game to continue the Mariners' momentum ahead of their FA Cup showdown on Saturday.

But after their 3-2 victory at Torquay United, the Town squad have a free week with no Conference clash scheduled ahead of the weekend's Fourth Qualifying Round tie with Guiseley.

And with the famous trophy set to visit Blundell Park this afternoon, Hurst's attentions are already turning to the famous competition.

The cup is set to be on display in the club shop from 1pm – and fans will be able to have their photo taken with the historic silverware as they snap up tickets for Saturday's fourth qualifying round tie with the Lions.

Hurst said: "In one way, it would have been nice to have a league game in midweek to carry on our momentum but we haven't and now we've got a cup game so we've just got to focus on that now.

"We've got to make sure that we prepare right, give Guiseley the respect they deserve.

"I know quite a few of their players and we'll have to be right – otherwise we'll be on the wrong end of an upset."

New goalkeeper coach Steve Marsella watched Guiseley's 4-4 draw with North Ferriby at the weekend.

It was a result that maintained Mark Bower's side's unbeaten away record in the Conference North and Hurst insists Town will give them the respect they deserve.

He added he hoped that promising league performances against Wrexham and Torquay would encourage some stay-away supporters back to Blundell Park on Saturday.

He continued: "Guiseley are unbeaten away from home this season and going well in their league, having only narrowly missed out on promotion last season.

"The plan for us is to put on a good home display and hopefully some of the fans who have been staying away will have seen our last two results, heard about our recent performances and will be encouraged back.

"Then it's down to us to put on a performance and make sure we get through the tie."

GRIMSBY Town's Youth team were dumped out of the FA Youth Cup after losing a dramatic penalty shoot-out to Abbey Hey.

The young Mariners had taken the lead when, after a great run by Josh Venney, Kris Fawcett to fired home to break the deadlock. 

But the visitors fought back and forced a second-half equaliser - forcing the game to extra-time and then penalties.

Only Jordan Barnett and Callum Jennings managed to convert from the spot for the Mariners, and Abbey Hey celebrated a 4-2 victory.

The Ukip Calypso song - which features a mention of Cleethorpes - has been withdrawn from sale by DJ Mike Read following claims it is offensive.

Mr Read as apologised unreservedly for any offence caused by the song - which he said he had released as a "bit of fun" - after critics branded it racist.

Written by the former Radio One DJ and sung in a faux-Jamaican accent, it featured the line 'From Crewe to Cleethorpes, Hull to Hendon/they don't believe Cameron's referendum.'

He said: "I'm so sorry that the song unintentionally caused offence. That was never my intention and I apologise unreservedly if anyone has taken offence.

"I've asked the record company to withdraw the single immediately."

Ukip leader Nigel Farage had called on his supporters to get the single to number one.

And, until last night, Mr Read had defended the song, saying he had "many chums out in the Caribbean" and a "track records of multiculturalism". 

However, he said he now felt "absolutely terrible" that it had caused offence, admitting that in hindsight, it may have been better to sing the song in his own accent, rather than "following a rich tradition of using Calypso music for political satire".

He told BBC London Radio: "I don't have a racist bone in my body. I work across all cultures and creeds, I travel the world. It was just meant to be a bit of fun.

"People are very very very quick to take offence now at something that years ago would have been deemed to be a bit of satire and a bit of fun.

PROPOSALS for 51 new homes in Waltham have this morning been thrown out by members of North East Lincolnshire Council's Planning Committee.

The committee voted by four votes to three, with two abstentions, to refuse the application from a Mr P Strawson for land behind the junction of Grimsby Road and Station Road.

The opposition was led by Councillor Andrew de Freitas (Lib Dem, Park) who was concerned that the development would eat up valuable food-growing land.

He said he was not satisfied with answers from planning officers to issues raised by committee members about the application.

The proposals included the erection of 51 dwellings – including garages, access, landscaping and attenuation ponds – used to store surface water run-off – on land off Station Road.

It had been recommended for approval with a Section 106 agreement by planning officers.

Read more in tomorrow's Grimsby Telegraph.