EVENING Star crime reporter Josh Warwick lives in Cardinal Lofts, the waterfront scene of today's stabbing drama. This is his story.

Josh Warwick

EVENING Star crime reporter Josh Warwick lives in Cardinal Lofts, the waterfront scene of today's stabbing drama. This is his story.

IT was at around 6.30am, moments after the alarm had woken me, when I heard a frantic knocking at the front door.

A young woman, no more than 25 and clearly in a state of distress, spoke before I could ask what was wrong.

“Call the police,” she urged, “somebody has been stabbed.”

Being thrust into the centre of a dramatic story sets the pulse racing for a crime reporter.

But when such an incident has taken place on your own doorstep, the shock of the situation quickly takes over.

Within minutes of my 999 call, three officers had arrived. I guided them to the front door of the Cardinal Lofts' plush penthouse apartment, before being told to remain in my own flat, a floor below.

The severity of the situation quickly began to emerge. Before long, a dozen police cars and two ambulances were at the scene, the sheer volume of emergency service vehicles forcing one lane of College Street to be closed.

As startled residents came to their doors, officers scuttled up and down the building's corridors, searching the ninth floor apartment and conducting interviews.

And then, as quickly as it had started, the drama was over.