Police are investigating after the discovery of a woman’s body underneath a car parked on the street outside the house where she is believed to have lived.

West Yorkshire Police say they were called with paramedics to Prospect Street, Cleckheaton, just after midnight on Sunday and found the body underneath a Vauxhall Omega car.

She was confirmed as dead at the scene and, although the car was unattended at the time, police arrested a 57-year-old man on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and driving while over the alcohol limit. He has since been released on bail.

Detective Chief Inspector Adrian Taylor, Senior Investigating Officer, said: “This investigation is in its early stages and we are still establishing the circumstances of the incident.

“We are keen to speak to anyone who was in the vicinity of Prospect Street around this time who has any information which could aid the ongoing investigation.”

Neighbours said the alarm was apparently raised by a take-away delivery driver who spotted the woman’s body while visiting the street with an order and although some residents ended up gathering in the area, others were unaware of the incident until the following day.

One close neighbour knew the woman who died as Jacqueline, a call-centre worker who had been out of work for the last few months.

She said: “She had lived here for a few years and was a nice lady, although I didn’t know her very well.

“She used to work at a calls centre in Bradford, but she had not been working for around the last eight months.”

It is understood that she lived with a man at the terraced house in Prospect Street and was aged mid 40s, according to neighbours.

They knew her from the distinctive old Jaguar car which she had driven for some time while living at the house.

Another neighbour said: “There was a lot of commotion when it happened and some of the neighbours ended up outside, although we didn’t see anything.”

By the time many neighbours became aware of the incident, investigators had cleared evidence from the street.

Yesterday flowers had been laid on the pavement, close to the spot where the incident occurred.

Information can be passed either to West Yorkshire Police's Protective Services (Crime) department on 101 or independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.