Couple jailed for at least 25 years for parents' murder
Christopher and Susan Edwards. Photograph: PA
A husband and wife have been sentenced to life in prison with a
minimum of 25 years each for murdering the woman's parents, burying
their bodies in the back garden and stealing £250,000 of their savings.
Susan Edwards, 56, and her husband Christopher, 57, were found guilty last week of shooting dead Patricia and William Wycherley at their home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in May 1998.
Sentencing the pair at Nottingham crown court on Monday, Mrs Justice Kathryn Thirlwall told them they would both serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars.
The bodies of the Wycherleys were unearthed last October from the back garden of their home, where they had lain undiscovered since 1998.
In an extraordinary 15-year deception, the couple tricked friends and family into believing the Wycherleys were still alive while spending their way through £250,000 of their victims' hard-earned savings.
The Edwards frittered away tens of thousands of pounds on an eclectic collection of celebrity memorabilia, including £14,000 worth of collectibles relating to the 50s actor Gary Cooper and an autography collection worth £20,000. On arrest they were £160,000 in debt.
At the same time, Susan Edwards kept up the pretence that her parents were alive, sending Christmas cards to relatives assuring them all was well. In one card, Edwards told a relative her father was enjoying his "second youth", travelling in Ireland.
The deception started to unravel in September 2013 when the couple fled to Lille, France, after being spooked by letters from the Department for Work and Pensions requesting an interview with William Wycherley to continue his benefits. There had also been letters from Buckingham Palace congratulating the late William Wycherley on what royal officials believed was his upcoming 100th birthday.
Having run out of money and unable to find work, Christopher called his stepmother and made a surprise confession: Susan had found her father dead at the hands of his wife and, following a confrontation, she had killed her mother. They had then buried the Wycherleys and lived off their benefits, he said.
The couple were arrested in October 2012 when they voluntarily handed themselves in to Nottinghamshire police after learning that detectives were investigating the buried bodies.
Detectives believe the crime's roots lay in a financial grudge held by Susan against her parents for years before the Wycherleys – who were 85 and 63 when they died – were shot dead in their bedroom in May 1998.
DCI Rob Griffin, of Nottinghamshire police, said after the sentencing: "The Edwards' version of events just didn't sound plausible right from the very beginning and following a lengthy and difficult investigation we were able to pick apart their story.
"It was through good old-fashioned detective work that we were able to separate fact from fiction. The Edwards' were their own worst enemies in the end. It was in the finer detail of their own story that we were able to expose their lies."
Susan Edwards, 56, and her husband Christopher, 57, were found guilty last week of shooting dead Patricia and William Wycherley at their home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in May 1998.
Sentencing the pair at Nottingham crown court on Monday, Mrs Justice Kathryn Thirlwall told them they would both serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars.
The bodies of the Wycherleys were unearthed last October from the back garden of their home, where they had lain undiscovered since 1998.
In an extraordinary 15-year deception, the couple tricked friends and family into believing the Wycherleys were still alive while spending their way through £250,000 of their victims' hard-earned savings.
The Edwards frittered away tens of thousands of pounds on an eclectic collection of celebrity memorabilia, including £14,000 worth of collectibles relating to the 50s actor Gary Cooper and an autography collection worth £20,000. On arrest they were £160,000 in debt.
At the same time, Susan Edwards kept up the pretence that her parents were alive, sending Christmas cards to relatives assuring them all was well. In one card, Edwards told a relative her father was enjoying his "second youth", travelling in Ireland.
The deception started to unravel in September 2013 when the couple fled to Lille, France, after being spooked by letters from the Department for Work and Pensions requesting an interview with William Wycherley to continue his benefits. There had also been letters from Buckingham Palace congratulating the late William Wycherley on what royal officials believed was his upcoming 100th birthday.
Having run out of money and unable to find work, Christopher called his stepmother and made a surprise confession: Susan had found her father dead at the hands of his wife and, following a confrontation, she had killed her mother. They had then buried the Wycherleys and lived off their benefits, he said.
The couple were arrested in October 2012 when they voluntarily handed themselves in to Nottinghamshire police after learning that detectives were investigating the buried bodies.
Detectives believe the crime's roots lay in a financial grudge held by Susan against her parents for years before the Wycherleys – who were 85 and 63 when they died – were shot dead in their bedroom in May 1998.
DCI Rob Griffin, of Nottinghamshire police, said after the sentencing: "The Edwards' version of events just didn't sound plausible right from the very beginning and following a lengthy and difficult investigation we were able to pick apart their story.
"It was through good old-fashioned detective work that we were able to separate fact from fiction. The Edwards' were their own worst enemies in the end. It was in the finer detail of their own story that we were able to expose their lies."
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