Man held after mum is found battered to death
A MAN aged 69 has been arrested after a retired council manager was found battered to death in her car.
Marion Price, 63, was discovered slumped across the passenger seat of her silver Vauxhall Corsa close to her flat on an upmarket housing estate on Sunday night.
Windows of the bloodstained vehicle were smashed, said neighbours in the village of Earls Barton, Northants.
Smashed
Mrs Price, who had a son and a daughter, was discovered around 8pm.
Police said she had suffered serious head injuries.
A man was later arrested on suspicion of murder.
A neighbour in the apartment block said: “Marion has only lived in the flat since April.”
The neighbour said that he had spotted the smashed windows and first believed the Corsa had been attacked by vandals. “I walked past the car to her flat and tried the doorbell because I wanted to tell her someone had vandalised her car,” he said.
“Another of my neighbours went to the car and found her body.
“She was lying slumped across the passenger seat. She rang an ambulance and they told her to try and get her out of the car and start CPR but… it was clear she was dead.”
He added: “It’s awful what’s happened.
“She was a lovely lady. I only spoke to her a few days ago and she said how much she was looking forward to seeing her family for Christmas. It’s just so sad.”
Mrs Price, also known by her maiden name Little, had retired from her job as finance manager at Northamptonshire County Council.
Her children, Gary and Toni, paid tribute to her, saying she was a “much-loved mum”.