Elderly warning as ‘serial killer’ strikes
People have been urged by police to check on their elderly relatives after a suspected serial killer was arrested over the murder of three pensioners. The battered bodies of three elderly men in their 80s – including twin brothers – were discovered at their homes in Exeter, Devon, within hours of each other. Police confirmed that a 27-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of the murders. Police said the “level of violence” used led officers to link the three killings.
POLICE urged people to check on their elderly relatives yesterday after a suspected serial killer was arrested over the murder of three pensioners.
The battered bodies of three elderly men in their 80s – including twin brothers – were discovered at their homes in Exeter, Devon, within hours of each other.
A 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of the murders on Tuesday. Police said the “level of violence” used led officers to link the killings.
Two of the murdered men were 84-year-old twins Dick and Roger Carter, who were killed in the home they had lived in all their lives. The other victim was Anthony Payne, 80, who lived alone.
Police first launched a murder investigation on Monday after Mr Payne’s body was discovered at his run-down home on Bonhay Road. The next day, concerned neighbours of Dick and Roger Carter rang police. Officers entered their detached home of Cowick Lane to find their dead bodies.
Hours later a 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of three murders and remains in custody.
Police said they decided to link the investigations but had not established “a clear connection between the parties involved”.
Officers would not reveal the causes of death but said that all the victims suffered “significant levels of injuries”.
Locals in the area should “check on elderly relatives”, they added.
Neighbours said Dick and Roger Carter were retired mushroom farmers who owned an agricultural supplies business in later life, and never married. Jonathan Carter, their nephew, told The Daily Telegraph that the family was “in total shock”.
“They didn’t have any children, and they were quite private people really,” he said.
“We have absolutely no idea why someone would want to kill them.”
One neighbour said the pair had been “hounded for years” by developers for their house, but they had turned every offer down.
Last night forensics officers were searching Mr Payne’s address, which stands on a busy road along the River Exe leading to St Davids railway station. A note signed “A J Payne” was still attached to the front door that read: “Elderly man 80 years of age wants accommodation for himself and his pet cat.” Neighbours said it had been there for a month.
A long-standing neighbour of the 80-year-old said that he had moved into his terrace home around 20 years ago.
“He arrived there as a lodger,” they said. “He lived with his landlady and when she died some years ago he stayed on as a kind of sitting tenant.
“I knew him as Tony but it’s years and years since I’ve seen him out and about. I just assumed he had become housebound.
“It’s so hard to believe someone would want to hurt him. He was just a quiet old man – I can’t imagine he had any valuables or anything worth stealing.”
Police would not disclose where the suspect was arrested but said they were not “actively” looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.
Police urged anyone in the area of Bonhay Road and Cowick Lane between 8am on Sunday 10 Feb and 1pm on Tuesday 12 Feb to get in touch.