15 years on, victim’s husband held over cut-throat murder
THE husband of a woman whose throat was cut while she sunbathed in her garden 15 years ago has been arrested for her murder.
Businessman Peter Heron claimed he discovered his wife in a pool of blood after coming home from work in August 1990.
He gave television and newspaper interviews and the police made appeals for information to help find the killer. But yesterday 70-year- old Mr Heron was arrested at his bungalow in Scotland after new DNA evidence was discovered.
Ann Heron’s body was found on August 3 – the hottest day of 1990 – at their home, Aeolian House, which stands in its own grounds on the outskirts of Middleton St George, near Darlington.
Police struggled for leads and were adamant that scientific advances would eventually help solve the crime.
It is those advances in forensic testing which are understood to have prompted police to raid Mr Heron’s home at 7.30am yesterday and arrest him.
Mr Heron, a former Army corporal, was in his mid- 50s and a haulage firm boss when his wife was killed. Both had children from previous marriages.
It later emerged that at the time his wife
was murdered Mr Heron had
been having an affair with 32-
year- old Marion Dobson, a barmaid at his local golf club.
There were no leads despite a
reconstruction of the killing on
the BBC’s Crimewatch UK programme and television and newspaper interviews with Mr Heron.
On GMTV ten years ago Mr Heron
said: ‘ I don’t believe that whoever
killed Ann was somebody who goes
about doing horrible things like this.
‘ I believe it was an ordinary guy
who, for whatever reason, had to kill
Ann.’
He added: ‘Initially of course it was
total horror. But now I have remarried to a lady from Scotland and
picked up my life.
‘It will never really go away. I realise
that is impossible.’
He told the Daily Mail: ‘I loved Ann
very much and spent some of the
best years of my life with her.’
Earlier this year a series of tests
were carried out on samples found at
the scene of Mrs Heron’s murder.
Detective Superintendent Dave
Jones said at the time: ‘The cutting
edge of technology could, ultimately,
be crucial.’
A breakthrough in technology
allowed the forensic scientists to
examine minute samples from the
murder scene. Until the advances in forensics these samples had been too tiny to be of use.
More than 1,500 items were taken from the crime scene and forensic scientists re- examined a small number for clues.
Yesterday morning six officers from Durham Police raided Mr Heron’s home in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, and arrested him. A Durham Police spokesman said: ‘Detectives investigating the killing of County Durham housewife Ann Heron arrested a 70-year- old man on suspicion of murder.
‘ At 7.30am a team of six officers from Durham, supported by officers from Strathclyde Police, made the arrest after raiding a bungalow in the Motherwell area of North Lanarkshire.’ Mr Heron was last night being questioned by officers at Spennymoor Police station, County Durham.
The spokesman said Mrs Heron’s relatives had been told of yesterday’s arrest. s.condron@dailymail.co.uk