A MURDER investigation has been launched after a 20-year-old man was stabbed to death in Southampton last night.

Ambulance crews were called to Graham Road in the Newtown area, outside the Royal South Hants Hospital, at about 11.30pm.

They discovered two men sitting in a car, one of whom was a 20-year-old with a stab wound to his chest.

Paramedics tried to treat the victim but he was declared dead at the scene.

It is believed the incident is linked to a dispute which happened 30 minutes earlier in the nearby Cranbury Avenue and Derby Road area.

Police sealed off a 200 metre stretch of Derby Road between the junctions with Denzil Avenue and Lyon Street. A small section at the end of Cranbury Avenue was also closed.

Two forensic officers dressed in boiler suits carried out a fingertip search and other officers were due to carry out house-to-house inquiries today.

One Denzil Avenue resident, who did not want to be named, said: "I looked out of my window this morning just after midnight and saw the blue and white police cordon so I knew something bad had happened.

"My wife said she had heard some screaming from outside last night but couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from."

The man, who is a member of the Denzil Avenue Residents' Association, said this latest incident made the case for CCTV cameras in the area even stronger.

"We all try to make our houses look nice with hanging baskets outside but then when these sorts of things happen you think 'What's the point?' We are all sick of it and we want cameras to go up to."

A man in his 30s who also lives in Cranbury Avenue said: "I parked up here last night and there was some policemen walking around but I couldn't see what was going on."

A Ford worker from Derby Road said: "There are always people shouting around here and there are often people by the side of the road doing drugs. A few weeks ago a man was stabbed in the road next to mine."

Police have launched an appeal for witnesses.

A post-mortem is due to be carried out today on the man, who has not been formally identified.

A spokesman said: "The death is being treated as suspicious. The police are appealing for anyone who witnessed an altercation in the area of Derby Road and Cranbury Avenue at approximately 11pm to call.

A spokesman for Hampshire Ambulance Service said they arrived in Graham Road just before 11.30pm where two men were sat in a parked car.

She added: "A 20-year-old had a stab wound to the chest and died at the scene."