Man arrested at Chailey in connection with Eastbourne murder

The 62-year-old man was apprehended by police close to Chailey Heritage Foundation near Lewes.

The arrest followed the discovery of a woman’s body at a house in Eastbourne on Sunday afternoon.

Sussex Police said police and ambulance paramedics were called to Broad Oak Close, off Rotherfield Avenue, at 1.59pm on Sunday (July 5) after a visitor to the house raised the alarm.

The woman had suffered serious injuries and was sadly declared dead at the scene.

A spokesperson at Sussex Police said, “Around an hour later, a 62-year-old man from Eastbourne was detained by police officers at Chailey and arrested on suspicion of murder.

“It is understood the woman was known to the man and police are not currently looking for anyone else in connection with her death. Nobody else was injured.”

A spokesperson at Chailey said, “We can confirm there was an incident in the grounds of Chailey Heritage yesterday.

“Sussex Police arrived on site and apprehended the individual.

“We take the safety of all of those at Chailey Heritage as paramount and we had procedures in place should an incident like this occur. These procedures were activated immediately and the young people and their support workers were kept safe.

“No-one was harmed and all the young people who reside on site and the staff remained safe in their bungalows. Sussex Police secured the site and we are assisting them with their investigations. We are also liaising with and notifying all other necessary statutory bodies.”

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.