Revealed: How the dentist wife died
A HARLEY Street dentist arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife at their home was yesterday told he would face no further police action.
Detectives said Helen Nicoll’s death remained ‘unexplained’ but cancelled her husband Stephen’s bail.
He had twice been quizzed by murder squad investigators following the discovery of his wife’s body at their six-bedroom family house in Great Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire, early on Friday morning.
Detectives gave him the news that he would not face charges after a post-mortem examination revealed that his 53-year- old wife, who is also a dentist, had died from asphyxiation. Her death, which was initially treated as suspicious, is now being classified as ‘unexplained’ by police and further tests and inquiries are being carried out to establish exactly how she died.
Earlier in the day a police forensic team appeared to launch a fresh search for clues at the detached house, which the couple designed and had built around 13 years ago.
Two white-suited investigators arrived in vans and went into the rear of the house just before 1pm, as uniformed officers stood guard outside. Later at least three detectives visited the property.
The officers then left the house and the electronic gates were closed behind them, after flowers left outside in tribute to Mrs Nicoll were removed and taken indoors.
A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Police explained yesterday: ‘We know that she died of asphyxiation, but we don’t know for sure how it happened and whether it was down to her.
‘A death is classified as sus- picious if there are grounds to believe it might be murder.
‘If it was thought to be suicide or accidental it would treated as non-suspicious.’
They added: ‘It is classed as unexplained if officers do not know whether it is suspicious or non-suspicious.’
The Nicolls, who had been married for 27 years, were said to be ‘very happy’ by friends and neighbours.
They had a 21- year- old daughter at university, a 17year- old daughter at a local private school and a 15-yearold son at a top private boarding school.
Mr Nicoll’s brother, Christopher, said: ‘The family is grieving. It’s hit the children particularly hard. There’s an ongoing police investigation and I’m not willing to say anything else at this time.’
A piano teacher who taught their two younger children paid tribute to Mrs Nicoll after she placed flowers outside their home yesterday.
The teacher, who would not give her name, said: ‘It is just so awful. I cannot believe that anyone would have harmed her. She was a lovely woman. I taught their children at my home for a couple of years and the parents would drop them off and pick them up.
‘ They always seemed so happy together. She was a beautiful lady who was always elegant and smartly dressed.
‘Her husband also seemed very nice and such a gentleman. They were always so family orientated. Both the children were very talented and musical. It was a delight to teach them.’
Villagers reported hearing ‘an almighty bang’ around 45 minutes before Mrs Nicoll was found dead, but the Met Office suggested it may have been unrelated to the death as there was ‘thundery activity’ in the area at the time.
Mrs Nicoll became a partner with her husband at the Hunts Park private dental practice in Cambridge in 1990. She previously had a career in oral surgery including a two-year registrar post at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.
Her husband also was employed in private practice in London’s exclusive Harley Street where he specialises in implant dentistry.
A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said: ‘A 53-yearold man arrested on suspicion of murdering a woman in Great Wilbraham has had his bail cancelled and released with no further action.
‘Police were called to a sudden death at about 6.30am on Friday. A post-mortem examination on the body concluded she died from asphyxiation.
‘The case has been passed to the coroner for an inquest, however police are still treating the death as unexplained and further tests and inquiries are being carried out to provide clarity over the circumstances of her death.’
‘She was a lovely woman’ ‘Treating death as unexplained’