‘Burglary’ bloodbath
Wife, 86, dies and former council chief fights for life after break-in
A WOMAN of 86 was found dead at home while her former council chairman husband lay seriously injured following an apparent break-in at their village property.
‘Devoted’ Freda and Ken Walker were found by paramedics who were called to the address on Saturday.
Mr Walker, who turned 88 on Thursday, was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries but nothing could be done for his wife.
Only last month, the former chairman of Bolsover District Council in Derbyshire was awarded an ‘honorary alderman’ title for his dedication and service to the authority. Jen
Wilson, a magistrate and district and town councillor, paid tribute to the Walkers, both of whom were well known in local Labour Party circles.
Mrs Wilson said: ‘Ken and Freda have lived around here all their lives. They were a private couple and Ken has been a wonderful public servant.
‘It is a shocking thing to have happened. I was talking to a friend who has lived near them for 50 years and she said she has never known an incident like it.’
Police yesterday warned residents to keep their doors and windows locked and said they were liaising with other forces to explore possible links with other similar offences. No arrests have been made.
The Walkers lived in a semidetached home on the edge of Langwith Junction, near Shirebrook, on the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire border.
A man leaving flowers outside the house said: ‘They were a lovely couple. They are in a dark area with their house being beside an alleyway. That’s where whoever broke in came from, I think.’
A neighbour added: ‘My partner told me there had been an attack in their house. Then I found out Ken is critical in hospital. It is horrible to hear.
‘They were a lovely couple’
I just knew them as an inviting and lovely couple.’
The Walkers’ home, which backs on to allotments, remained cordoned off yesterday. Derbyshire Police confirmed they are not treating it as a ‘domestic incident’.
Chief Superintendent Hayley Barnett said Mr Walker had suffered ‘horrific injuries’ and was in a critical condition.
Mr Walker retired as a district councillor in 2019, two years after he finished a fiveyear stint as chairman.
He remained a councillor on Shirebrook Town Council.
The attack comes nine days after a couple in their eighties were ‘viciously assaulted’ as they slept in their beds in the village of Trowell, Nottinghamshire, 26 miles from Langwith Junction.