Riddle as woman found dead and man badly burnt
POLICE have launched a double probe after discovering a dead woman in a house an hour after a man was found seriously injured in a caravan fire.
Officers sealed off the addresses, less than a mile apart in Stewarton, Ayrshire, yesterday as forensic officers scoured for clues.
A spokesman for Police Scotland said they were called along with fire crews to a report of a blaze at Peacockbank Farm in the town at around 5.15am yesterday.
She added: ‘A 50-year-old man was found nearby suffering from serious burns. He was taken by ambulance to Crosshouse Hospital where medical staff described his condition as serious.’
Just an hour and five minutes later, the force said a woman’s body was found in a property at Crusader Crescent, Stewarton.
The spokesman said: ‘The woman is still to be formally identified and the death is currently being treated as unexplained.
‘A post-mortem will be carried out in due course to establish the exact cause of death.’
Both scenes, which are just minutes apart, remained cordoned off by police.
Although police said they were treating each incident as separate inquiries, they would not rule out the possibility that the two were linked.
A spokesman said: ‘At the moment it’s two incidents in close proximity and inquiries are continuing into both.’
The house where the body was found is an end-terraced property in a well-established estate built by the former
‘Two incidents in close proximity’
Scottish Special Housing Association. Located on the outskirts of Stewarton, the busy estate is surrounded by countryside and a number of working dairy farms.
Neighbours claimed a couple lived at the address, and said the pair had a caravan they kept on a farm nearby. Police tape extended from the front of the house to the rear and around a grey Peugeot people carrier parked at the side.
Police stood guard at the front and back gates as forensic officers were spotted entering the property and searching for clues.
A white plastic sun lounger could be seen in the back garden, beside a trellis and patio area.
John Hillhouse, 58, who lives close to the house where the woman’s body was found, said he was friends with a couple who lived at the house.
Mr Hillhouse, an environmental health officer, said: ‘I’m friends with them and been out for a drink with him and his wife many times. They are a very nice couple and spent a lot of time away in their caravan that they kept up at that farm.’
A neighbour, a man in his 40s said: ‘I just saw them coming and going but I didn’t know them.
‘The first I knew was when I was leaving for my work this morning and I saw the police tape and when I came home it was still there.’
One elderly neighbour, who would not be named, said: ‘A woman in her 50s lived there and there was a man but I don’t know if they were a couple.
‘She parked her car here outside my house and his is still there at the side.
‘It’s really quiet around here and nothing happens. It’s a real mystery.’