The woman found murdered in Finsbury Park yesterday has been named as Iuliana Tudos, who went missing on Christmas Eve.

The 22-year-old barmaid died of a stab wound and a head injury, police said, and is thought to have been attacked the evening she went missing.

Iuliana, also known as Julie and Juliana, had been out with friends and told them she was taking the bus home to Upper Tollington Park from Camden Road at 8pm.

She was due to meet them at their home in Enfield later that night to celebrate Christmas but never showed up.

Her friends then reported her as missing and an appeal was launched to find her. But at about 4.25pm yesterday, within an hour of the appeal being published, her body was found in the pavilion by the softball pitch in the park.

Iuliana, who is known as Julie, is of Greek and Russian descent.

Det Ch Insp Nicola Wall from the Met’s murder squad, who is leading the investigation, said: “Iuliana’s body was discovered in an outbuilding next to a sports pitch. We believe that she may have been attacked on Christmas Eve but we want to hear from anyone who saw anything suspicious in that part of Finsbury Park over the Christmas period.

“We are still trying to piece together a timeline of events and are pursuing a number of lines of enquiry as regards to a motive.”

Iuliana, who was 5ft 1in tall with a slim build, was last seen in Camden Road wearing a black and red hooded top with “Agnostic Front” on it, light jeans, and black and white Vans shoes.

Police said she was wearing glasses and was carrying a black and white fabric bag with “fighting against animal testing” written on it.

Anyone with information is asked to call 020 8785 8244, tweet @MetCC or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.