A 27-year-old psychiatric patient has been arrested for stabbing a woman to death in the village of Den Dolder northeast of Utrecht.

The woman, who was 76, was fatally stabbed close to the station on Thursday afternoon and died of her injuries on the spot.

The suspect is now known to be a patient at an institute known as Fivoor, which specialises in forensic and intensive psychiatry.

“Our staff got in touch with the police because of the description which had been circulated,” spokesman Cees Siermann told the AD. The man was arrested at the clinic at around midnight, Siermann said.

Siermann would not say why the man was being treated but according to the AD he was living in a unit for people with light mental disabilities who also have behavioural issues or a psychiatric illness. The clinic is open and patients can come and go.

Siermann said the clinic has been shocked by events and is cooperating fully with the police.