A man has been charged with murder after a woman’s body was found at a Hunter Valley home on Friday night following a suspected domestic violence incident.

Christopher McLoughney, 37, will face court on Sunday after strike force detectives arrested him at a sporting club carpark in Bellbird, west of Newcastle, about 6.45pm on Saturday. Police allege he was in possession of a sawn-off shotgun.

The alarm was raised after a child walked 300 to 400 metres from a home on Ellalong Street in Kearsley, near Cessnock, to flag down passing motorists on Friday evening.

Police then found the body of a 39-year-old woman with a gunshot wound when they attended the home about 7.30pm.

Nine News identified the woman as Rhukaya Lake, McLoughney’s partner. The pair lived together and had been in an inti

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