DETECTIVES from York were this afternoon investigating the death of a woman whose body was found in a tent close to York city centre early today.

Police said it was too early to say whether the investigation would develop into a murder inquiry.

An ambulance crew was called to the Euro car park in Leeman Road, near York's National Railway Museum, at about 1am after a member of the public phoned to say a woman was unconscious in a tent.

An ambulance service spokeswoman said that when the crew arrived, the woman - who was 41 years old and local - was found to be dead.

Police were called and a man, believed to be from the York area, was arrested on suspicion of supplying a controlled drug.

He was today being held and questioned at York police station in Fulford Road.

Police spokesman Tony Lidgate told the Evening Press that a number of other people had been present at the scene of the incident when officers arrived.

He added that a post-mortem examination was being carried at York District Hospital mortuary today.

Police revealed that the woman's body was found in a blue, single-person, cylindrical tent pitched on gravelled waste land next to a car park and beside the East Coast Main Line.

A nearby path leads to the Holgate Road area of the city.

The tent was still standing there today, guarded by police who had sealed off a 30-metre square area around the scene.

A number of food containers and bottles could be seen lying around the tent, along with a bag. There was no sign of any other tents or vehicles in the area.

PC Jenny Doolan, guarding the site, said that scenes-of-crime officers had already visited the scene and a forensic team from Northallerton was expected there this afternoon.

The site is about 500 metres from the Arclight Centre, a night shelter for homeless people, which is only metres from the East Coast Main Line.

Arclight manager Jeremy Jones said he did not wish to comment because a police investigation was under way, but he confirmed he had heard of the incident. "News travels fast," he said.

Updated: 15:41 Tuesday, July 30, 2002