Wife held over death of judge in mystery fire

A woman has been arrested after her husband, a judge, burnt to death in a mysterious fire on the day he asked for a divorce.

Jennifer Chubb was escorted from her 19th-century home near Chard, Somerset, by police officers investigating new information on the case. She was questioned by detectives on Wednesday.

Last December an inquest into the death of Judge Andrew Chubb returned a verdict of accidental death, a result dismissed as "absolute rubbish" by Kerry Sparrow, his mistress.

Judge Chubb, 58, who appeared as junior counsel in the prosecution of Rosemary West, died on 27 July last year. The inquest was told he had arrived home that afternoon and told his wife of 33 years he wanted a divorce.

Later he went outside to the garage, which contained several mowers and a supply of petrol. Mrs Chubb tried to talk to him there and then went inside from where she saw the garage explode, the court was told.

Last night, a police spokesman said the suspect had been released on bail.