Daughter and son-in-law charged with murder of elderly Mansfield couple found buried in back garden

The garden where the bodies have been found (PA)

The daughter and son-in-law of an elderly couple found buried in the back garden of their home are to appear in court today charged with murder.

Susan Edwards, 55, and her husband Christopher, 57, have both been charged with the murders of William and Patricia Wycherley who went missing from their home in Mansfield in 1998.

The bodies were unearthed on 9 October in the back garden of the semi-detached home in Blenheim Close, Mansfield, and after examining the remains a Home Office pathologist concluded that they had been shot dead. The daughter and son-in-law, of no fixed address, are due to go before Nottingham magistrates this morning. They are being held in custody.

A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman said before the couple had been charged that formal identification had still to be confirmed, but that officers were convinced the remains are that of Mr and Mrs Wycherley. The couple lived at the house in the 1990s and, according to neighbours, disappeared in 1998.

Officers have said that Mrs Wycherley is believed to have been born in Fulham, west London, and would now have been 79. Her husband would have been 100.