"Suspected burglar" stabbed to death in break-in

Police officers guard a house in Salford, northern England June 23, 2011.

LONDON (Reuters) - A suspected burglar was stabbed to death during a break-in at a house in Salford, police said on Thursday.

Greater Manchester Police said the victim was one of a gang of four men, some wearing balaclavas, who were believed to have been trying to break into the house in the Pendlebury area of the city just before midnight on Wednesday.

Officers were alerted to reports of a burglary and as police headed to the scene, they also received reports that a group of men had been seen carrying an injured man into a nearby road.

They discovered the 26-year-old with stab wounds there and he was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. He has not yet been formally identified.

"The man who has died was one of the persons trying to get into the rear of the address -- that's what we believe at this stage," Chief Superintendent Kevin Mulligan told reporters.

Police said two men, aged 59 and 27, and a 21-year-old woman had been arrested on suspicion of murder at the address.

The BBC said the arrested trio were the householder, his son and the son's girlfriend.

"Clearly it's a confusing picture at this stage," Mulligan said. "It's a very complex inquiry and we want to make sure we get it right and I don't want to speculate about anything."

Mulligan said detectives believed the dead man had got into the house before the incident.

"There was some sort of disturbance inside the house and that's all I can say about the circumstances in the house at this time," he added. He appealed for the three other men to come forward.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to protect homeowners who used force to defend their homes against criminals.

"The public have rightly been outraged by some prosecutions of homeowners defending their property from criminals," he said.

"So we'll put beyond doubt that homeowners and small shopkeepers who use reasonable force to defend themselves or their properties will not be prosecuted."

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)