Pensioners killed on farm

The bodies of two pensioners, battered to death in what police suspect was a botched burglary, were found on a farm in north Wales yesterday.

Elsie Davies, 88, who had lived at Tower Farm in Llangollen, Clwyd, for more than 60 years, was discovered in a cowshed just after lunchtime. The body of a male friend in his late eighties had been found several hours earlier in the farmhouse kitchen after worried relatives of Mrs Davies called in the police.

Detective Chief Superintendent Peter Ackerley, of North Wales Police, described the murders as "vicious" and said he was working on the theory that Mrs Davies, a widow, and her friend might have been killed during a burglary.

Officers were questioning holidaymakers at a caravan park behind the farm. Workers at the farm were also expected to be interviewed. Police were searching for the man's missing red Skoda Felicia.