MURDER AT THE COTTAGE
Arrest after antiques dealer, 88, found dead
THE death of a retired antiques dealer is being treated as a murder three weeks after her body was found in her cottage.
Isobel Rhodes’ death was not considered suspicious when paramedics were called to her isolated home last month.
But detectives now say they have ‘reason to believe there may have been third-party involvement’. On Tuesday, a 43-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder. He was released on bail yesterday.
Residents in the Suffolk village of Capel St Mary, which was listed in the Domesday Book and has a parish church that dates back to the 13th century, believe the suspect was known to widow Mrs Rhodes, 88, and had visited her thatched cottage.
She was found dead on February 17 after a villager raised concerns when she had not been seen for several days.
Neighbour Edward Manson, a clock- maker, said: ‘She was a remarkable lady who had a very good reputation in the antiques world.
‘I would describe her as an old school and rather formidable person who didn’t suffer fools. But she was capable of acts of kindness and being thoughtful. I know that her health had suffered in the last two or three years.’ Christine Cutler, 76, who lives next door to the antiques shop Mrs Rhodes ran in Woodbridge, near Ipswich, until last year, added: ‘She was fiercely independent and highly intelligent. She knew everything there was to know about furniture.
‘She had given up driving before she retired and often stayed the week in her flat above the shop, going back to her cottage at weekends. It is terrible to hear that she has died in these circumstances.’
Mrs Rhodes won a scholarship to read medieval history at Oxford, where she met her economist husband, Gerry, who died in 2007.
The couple, who had no children, lived in London before they moved to Capel St Mary.
Mr Manson said Mrs Rhodes’ business in Woodbridge had suffered in recent years due to a downturn in the antiques trade, but she ‘loved interchanging with people coming in off the street’.
Suffolk Police said: ‘ Officers arrested a 43-year-old man from Ipswich on suspicion of murder on Tuesday morning.’