A MAN held over a fatal train stabbing is thought to have given cops the slip at first as his lover picked him up in her car.

Dad Lee Pomeroy, 51, was killed in a frenzied attack during a bust-up with a stranger.

The man is believed to have left a trail of the victim’s blood as he fled.

It was found smeared on a fence near the railway station he ran from following the killing of Lee Pomeroy.

He is also said to have dropped a bloodied hat in nearby woods.

As a manhunt was launched, the suspect is thought to have initially escaped police when a girlfriend collected him in her car.

Lee and his killer accidentally bumped into each other when they boarded the train — dad Lee with his 14-year-old boy. Father and son were on a day trip to central London at lunchtime on Friday.

Sources say that after a row lasting several minutes on the Surrey to London Waterloo service, the suspect pulled out a knife and slashed Lee in the neck and body.

The culprit got off at the next stop, the rural Surrey rail station of Clandon, and is then said to have called a female friend on his phone.

She collected the suspect in her car from a woodland spot on the edge of the village and drove him away.

Cops carried out a dawn raid on the home of a woman 15 miles away in Farnham.

A man aged 35 was arrested on suspicion of Lee’s murder and led away in handcuffs. He was being held in custody.

Computer programmer Lee, who lived with Russian-born wife Svetlana and their son in a £500,000 house in Guildford, was due to have celebrated his 52nd birthday.

It is understood the arrested man mainly divides his time between living in London and with the 27-year-old woman in Farnham.

The suspect is believed to have been returning to the capital after spending several days visiting the young mum.

A woman was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. A light blue Vauxhall Corsa car was forensically examined by cops outside the housing association property.

Saturday's 6am swoop followed a dramatic “fast-time” investigation by British Transport Police, supported by Surrey colleagues.

Police with dogs had scoured the countryside around Clandon and a helicopter was scrambled in the hunt for the knifeman.

But by that time the suspect had already managed to slip the net.

Cops issued a description of a black male, 6ft tall, and wearing dark clothing and white trainers, who was seen on a private road in Clandon and dropping the bloodied hat.

The breakthrough is said to have come when footage from CCTV was examined and showed a car turning up in the area within a short time of the killing. The vehicle’s details were checked and led to the arrests.

Cops have also obtained video of Lee with his son getting on the train at Guildford’s London Road station. Further CCTV images have also been obtained showing the confrontation between Lee and his killer on board the train.

Cops said the pair moved into another carriage away from Lee’s son as the row continued before the dad was killed.

British Transport Police’s Detective Chief Inspector Sam Blackburn said: “In the moments leading to the violent killing, both men appeared to be involved in an altercation lasting three minutes.

“Nothing justified the extraordinary violence that followed and we are concentrating our efforts on the ongoing investigation.”

Lee’s son came across his dying father in the next carriage as the train pulled into Horsley station, the next stop after Clandon on South Western Railway’s New Guildford Line. A witness has described frantically trying to save the victim’s life after arriving at Horsley station to catch a train.

Lee had been moved to the platform and the man, who asked not to be named, said: “He was conscious at that point and because I know first aid I wanted to help.

“A British Transport Police officer arrived and was talking to him but he stopped breathing so I ran to get a defibrillator.

“When I came back, I put that on his chest while the officer did CPR and then the paramedics arrived after about five minutes and took over.

“I didn’t know anything had happened when I went over but I saw his hands were all bloody and someone told me he’d been stabbed. A guard was holding a jumper to his neck and he had a few slashes on his abdomen so it was clear he had been stabbed a few times.

“His son was there and looked calm, like he was in shock or something. He was on the phone to the ambulance but it was like he didn’t know what had happened — it was horrific.

“There was a lot of blood and a woman who I think saw what had happened was stood on the platform crying.

“I just wanted to help so I didn’t think of the consequences but it was horrible when I later discovered he had died.”

The boy was comforted by train staff and other passengers and later questioned gently by police about what he had seen in the build-up to the killing.

Grant Christy, a neighbour who saw the suspect arrested, said: “This morning I saw lots of police around here and them leading him out.

“He was in handcuffs, she wasn’t, she was carrying the child.”

He added: “It was around six in the morning. They smashed the door down, woke me up immediately, obviously.

“Initially I just heard the banging. Sounded like someone trying to kick the door in, that’s what it sounded like to start with.

“And then I jumped out of bed, put my ear to the door, listened to what was going on.

“Then I heard the police shouting, ‘Put your hands up, turn around’, all that sort of thing and then it went quiet.”

Det Chief Insp Blackburn said police still wanted to hear from anyone who was on the 12.58 service from Guildford to Waterloo.

He added: “This is a fast-moving investigation and I am pleased that overnight we were able to arrest a man following a huge amount of police enquiries.

“We are continuing our appeal for information and I would urge anyone who was on board the train to contact us as soon as possible.

“Even if you did not witness the assault, it is vitally important we speak with you. Likewise, if you have any dashcam footage of the Clandon area after 1pm yesterday, we would like to hear from you.”