Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Romanian cops hold ‘Midsomer murder’ suspect
Arrest in hunt for hammer killer
A MAN has been arrested in Romania over the killing of Valerie Graves, who was battered to death with a claw hammer in a case dubbed the “Midsomer murder”.
Artist Valerie, 55, was found dead in bed with head and facial injuries at 10am on December 30, 2013.
She was on the ground floor of a £1.6million house in Bosham, West Sussex, a village which once featured in the ITV crime series.
Police said Cristian Sabou, 28, had been arrested at his home in Dej, in the Transylvania region of his native Romania, on suspicion of murder.
A video by news site Dej24 appears to show officers entering a block of flats where the arrest was made.
A European arrest warrant had been granted by a UK judge, and Sabou is expected to appear in Clujnapoca to face extradition proceedings, which, if successful, will lead to his appearance in court in Sussex.
JUSTICE
UK detectives were in Romania to work with police there. Det Chief Insp Jon Fanner said: “This is a major development in our task of achieving justice for Valerie and her family.” Valerie’s death triggered a huge murder hunt that included DNA testing almost 3,000 men.
She had only recently moved back to Sussex from Scotland to care for her elderly mother.
She was housesitting at the property, along with her mother, sister, and her sister’s partner, for family friends who were away on holiday in Costa Rica for Christmas.
Valerie was last seen alive at 10pm the night before her body was found. There were no signs of a struggle, and a post-mortem examination found she had severe head injuries after being hit with a claw hammer, probably at around midnight. A BBC Crimewatch appeal in 2014 told how Valerie had spent Christmas Day, which was also her birthday, celebrating with her children and grandchildren.
Her son Tim Wood described his mother as a “big kid at heart”. He said: “She loved playing with the grandkids, messing around being silly.”