Couple admits burying dead parents in back garden

A woman and her husband have admitted burying her parents in the back garden of their home nearly 16 years ago.

Susan Edwards (55) and her husband Christopher (57) denied murdering William and Patricia Wycherley at an earlier court hearing.

But during a plea hearing at Nottingham Crown Court today, the couple each pleaded guilty to two charges of obstructing the coroner in the execution of his duty and the theft of a credit balance.

The Wycherleys disappeared from their semi-detached house in Mansfield in 1998.

Police launched a murder investigation after two sets of human remains were recovered from the garden of their home in Blenheim Close, Forest Town, last October. Post-mortem examinations showed both had been shot.

Nottinghamshire Police said DNA testing had formally identified the remains — which were discovered after a tip off — as those of Mr and Mrs Wycherley, who would now be 101 and 79 respectively.

The accused, of no fixed address, were arrested at St Pancras International station in London on October 30th last year.

At an earlier hearing at Nottingham Crown Court the couple each pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder between May 1st and 5th, 1998.

Today the couple admitted obstructing a coroner in the execution of his duty by burying the bodies in the garden of 2 Blenheim Close between May 2nd and May 10th, 1998.

They also each pleaded guilty to a further charge of stealing a credit balance from a Halifax Bank account between May 4 th 1998 and 31st October 2013.

The judge Mrs Justice Thirlwall remanded them in custody.

They will next appear at Nottingham Crown Court for trial on June 4th.

The trial is expected to last between three and four weeks.

PA