Couple admit burying parents in Mansfield back garden

The bodies were discovered in the garden last October

A woman and her husband have admitted burying her parents in the back garden of their home nearly 16 years ago.

Susan Edwards, 55, and her husband Christopher, 57, both deny murdering William and Patricia Wycherley.

At Nottingham Crown Court, they pleaded guilty to obstructing the coroner in the execution of his duty and theft of a credit balance.

The Wycherleys vanished from their home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in 1998.

Arrested at station

Police launched a murder investigation after two sets of human remains were recovered from the garden of the home in Blenheim Close, Forest Town, last October.

Post-mortem examinations showed both had been shot.

Nottinghamshire Police said DNA testing had formally identified the remains as those of Mr and Mrs Wycherley, who would now be 101 and 79 respectively.

Susan Edwards, 55, and Christopher Edwards, 57, face a murder trial at Nottingham Crown Court in June

The accused, of no fixed address, were arrested at St Pancras International station in London on 30 October last year.

At a hearing at Nottingham Crown Court in February the couple pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder between 1 and 5 May 1998.

On Friday, they admitted burying the bodies in the garden at Blenheim close between 2 May and 10 May 1998.

They also pleaded guilty to a further charge of stealing a credit balance from a Halifax Bank account between 4 May 1998 and 31 October 2013.

They are due to go on trial for murder on 4 June.

A former neighbour of the dead couple said they "kept themselves to themselves...and never went out a lot".

Brett Wilson told BBC News: "They didn't have a car…. and they didn't mix at all. You would never see them chatting to neighbours."

He added: "After a while you just used to see them behind the curtain - like a shadow."