Daughter of couple found buried in their back garden after vanishing 15 years ago arrested on suspicion of their murder

• Susan Edwards and husband held three weeks after bodies were found
• They were arrested at St Pancras Station in London on Wednesday night
• William and Patricia Wycherly disappeared from their home in 1998

By Andy Dolan
The daughter of a couple whose bodies were found buried in their own back  garden has been arrested on suspicion of their murder.
Susan Edwards was detained along with her husband, Christopher, three weeks after police discovered the bones of her ‘reclusive’ parents, who had not been seen since the late 1990s.
Police officers began digging at the semi-detached home that formerly belonged to William and Patricia Wycherley after receiving a tip-off about an ‘incident’ at the house that had taken place up to 15 years ago.

Murder inquiry: The outside of the semi-detached house in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where police three weeks ago found the remains of William and Patricia Wycherley buried in the back garden after a tip-off

Neighbours said Mr Wycherley, a former merchant sailor who would now be 100, and his wife, who would now be 79, ‘disappeared’ from the property in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in the late 1990s.
Rumours later circulated locally and within their extended family that the couple had moved to either Ireland or to the Lancashire coast.
In a further twist to the strange case, some relatives have said they continued to receive Christmas cards apparently written and sent by the couple until as recently as two years 
Nottinghamshire Police are waiting for forensic tests to confirm that the remains are indeed those of Bill and Pat Wycherley, but detectives say they are confident the skeletons are theirs.
The Wycherleys moved into the cul-de-sac house in the suburb of Forest Town in 1987. It was sold in 2005 to a buy-to-let owner.

Police said at the time of the bodies’ discovery that neither the landlord nor the tenant was under any suspicion.
The force has not confirmed the identities of those under arrest.
A spokesman said only that a 55-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man were arrested at St Pancras International station in London on Wednesday night and taken into custody for questioning.
But sources told the Daily Mail that the people held were the Edwards couple, who had been living in a council flat in Dagenham, Essex, until last December.
Detectives had been keen to speak to Mrs Edwards and her husband since discovering the bodies, but it is thought that the couple had recently been staying abroad.

Excavations: Neighbours said Mr Wycherley, a former merchant sailor who would now be 100, and his wife, who would now be 79, 'disappeared' from the property in the late 1990s. It was thought they had moved away

Macabre find: Nottinghamshire Police are still waiting for forensic tests to confirm the remains are those of the Wycherleys, but detectives are 'confident' the skeletons discovered in the back garden belong to the pair

Detective Chief Inspector Rob Griffin appealed for anyone who knew the Wycherleys, or who lived in the Blenheim Close area of Forest Town between 1990 and 2005, to come forward with any relevant information.
He said: ‘Bones were discovered in a grave in the garden. People we have spoken to to date have described the Wycherleys as reclusive. They kept themselves to themselves and it didn’t appear they had many regular friends or associates.
‘We want to put together their lifestyles, their movements, and that will hopefully help us explain how they came to be where we recovered them from.
‘It appears they vanished. We conduct what are known as “proof of life” inquiries and we can’t find any evidence of them being alive. And at the same time we can’t find any evidence of them having died.
‘Neither William nor Patricia have ever been reported missing.’