A Nottinghamshire couple have been convicted of murder following the discovery of their parents’ bodies under a patio in October last year.
Susan and Christopher Edwards were convicted following a two-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court for the murder of William and Patricia Wycherley, Susan Edwards’s parents.
In May 1998, the defendants visited the Wycherleys at their home in Mansfield, shot them and buried them in the garden in the early hours of the morning. Both were shot with a gun similar to one owned by Christopher Edwards.
In the 15 years that followed, Mr and Mrs Edwards continued to withdraw funds, including benefits, pensions and the proceeds of the sale of their house, from a joint bank account in Mrs Edwards and Mrs Wycherley’s names.
Dona Parry-Jones, a Senior Crown Prosecutor at CPS East Midlands, said:
“This was a cold, calculated murder, motivated by greed. The two defendants travelled to Mansfield, murdered the elderly couple and took their life savings to relieve their own financial troubles.
“Having killed their parents, and buried them in their own back garden the defendants concocted lies about the couple’s deaths to neighbours and relatives to enable them to continue spending their pensions, replying to cards and letters on their behalf and even selling their house. All in all they stole nearly £250,000.
“The tragedy of this case is that Mr and Mrs Wycherley were murdered by those closest to them, dying un-mourned and denied any dignity in death.”
The Wycherleys’ deaths were uncovered when Christopher Edwards disclosed to a family member that they were dead on the phone from France, where they had fled and run out of money. They were brought back to the UK and charged with murder.
Susan Edwards offered a partial defence of manslaughter on the eve of the trial, on the basis that she had witnessed her mother shooting her father and had shot her after an argument and asked her husband to bury the bodies a week later. However, scientific evidence showed that this story could not have been true and the couple were convicted of murder.
