• Couple believed to be William and Patricia Wycherley of Mansfield
  • According to neighbours, the pair disappeared in 1998
  • Daughter Susan Edwards and her husband have been arrested on suspicion of their murders, though police have refused to confirm

By William Turvill

PUBLISHED: 12:41 EST, 1 November 2013 | UPDATED: 12:41 EST, 1 November 2013

An elderly couple found buried in the back garden of their home were both shot, police have said.

The remains were found in the garden of a house in Forest Town, Mansfield, on October 9, and are believed to be William and Patricia Wycherley - though formal identification has yet to be confirmed - who lived at the address in the 1990s.

Daughter Susan Edwards, 55, and her husband Christopher, 57, were arrested at St Pancras International railway station in London on Wednesday evening on suspicion of their murders, though police have refused to confirm the identities of the pair.

Police have said an elderly couple found in this garden in Forest Town, Mansfield, were both shot

Police have said an elderly couple found in this garden in Forest Town, Mansfield, were both shot

They continue to be questioned by detectives in relation to the deaths as police revealed the cause of death had now been determined.

Mr and Mrs Wycherley disappeared from the house in 1998, according to neighbours.

A spokeswoman for Nottinghamshire Police said: 'Following an examination of the remains, discovered in the back garden of a house in Blenheim Close, Forest Town, on Wednesday 9 October 2013, a Home Office pathologist has determined that both people died as a result of being shot.'

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

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

Mr and Mrs Wycherley moved into the house in 1987.

A murder inquiry was launched after the bodies were unearthed in the back garden of the semi-detached house following a tip-off to the police.

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.

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