Tributes paid to car crash stab victim Timothy Smith

Image source, Police handout

Image caption, Timothy Smith was found with a single stab wound in a crashed car at an industrial estate

A man who was found with stab wounds in a crashed car and later died has been identified by police.

Timothy Smith, 45, from Staffordshire, died on Thursday of a stab wound. He had been found in a car on an industrial estate in Shepshed, Leicestershire.

Four people have been arrested and are being questioned about his murder.

Mr Smith's father Derek, from Oxfordshire, said his son was "kind, thoughtful and caring".

Image caption, Police were initially called to the industrial estate after reports of a crash

"He was a thoroughly good-hearted person," Mr Smith said.

"He was kind and thoughtful and tried to do his best in every aspect of his life, whether that was how he applied himself to work or how he developed and maintained friendships.

"Tim loved his mother dearly, and was extremely upset when she died last year.

Since her death, we have been in regular contact, even thought he was living in Staffordshire, and news that he too now has gone is so desperately and deeply sad for us all."

Three men aged 53, 20 and 17, and a woman, 53, have been arrested over the death.

Police found Mr Smith in a silver Ford Fiesta car that had crashed into a wall near an industrial estate off Gelders Hall Road in Shepshed.