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Spookdaddy Cuckoo Joined: 24 May 2006 Total posts: 3924 Location: Midwich Gender: Unknown |
 Posted: 12-10-2013 14:19 Post subject: |
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| Ronnor wrote: | | If they 'disappeared' suddenly (albeit they were dead and buried in the back garden), how did the house come to be sold? The report says "the house then stood empty until the present occupies moved in about 7 years ago" but someone must have disposed of the couple's belongings and put the house on the market...? |
If the couple were declared legally dead and had not made a will and had no relatives close enough to inherit under the rules of intestacy, then their property would have reverted to the Crown and could then have re-entered the housing market on that basis.
Also, there's a thing called an Empty Dwelling Management Order, which is designed to allow local authorities to take over the management of long term unoccupied property. I think (although, I'm not entirely certain) that this can also be used by a local authority if the owners of the property cannot actually be traced (rather than that they are simply absent and negligent).
I'm not sure how likely either scenario is (Empty Dwelling Management Order's are apparently very rare) but they do illustrate the possibility that a transfer of property can take place without the direct involvement of the last legal owners or anyone connected to them. |
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| Ronnor Yeti Joined: 23 Oct 2009 Total posts: 81 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 12-10-2013 15:14 Post subject: |
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| Interesting stuff of which I wasn't aware. But if they were declared legally dead, someone somewhere must surely have missed this couple and instigated the procedure, since it doesn't just happen apropos of nothing? Presumably some sort of checks are carried out by the authorities as declaring someone dead isn't something to be undertaken lightly. |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-10-2013 16:13 Post subject: |
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If the missing couple had left a will, then presumably their solicitor, and/or the beneficiaries would have realised they were missing, and reported it to the Police. That would be the first stage in getting them declared legally dead after a passage of years, after which the beneficiaries could dispose of the property.
If they were reported missing, I wonder how far the original police investigation went. Presumably more on that will have to come out now.
If the bodies in the garden aren't those of the missing couple, we have an even stranger story! |
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| escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 17896 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 4 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 12-10-2013 17:56 Post subject: |
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That's a good point - if we assume that the bodies are of the missing couple, we are taking a lot for granted.
Seems likely though. |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-10-2013 15:34 Post subject: |
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| What if the missing couple buried the bodies in the garden and got the hell out of there, never to be seen again? |
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| Cochise Great Old One Joined: 17 Jun 2011 Total posts: 1104 Location: Gwynedd, Wales Age: 58 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 14-10-2013 08:00 Post subject: |
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The UK has always had - or at least has had for a long time - mechanisms for dealing with the legacy of people who cannot be confirmed dead by discovery of a body. I imagine the need arose out of us being a seafaring nation.
The US introduced them after 9/11, although some states already had them.
A similar confusion exists over the idea of it being impossible to prove murder without a body - it isn't and it has been. |
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| escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 17896 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 4 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 14-10-2013 16:35 Post subject: |
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| Cochise wrote: | | A similar confusion exists over the idea of it being impossible to prove murder without a body - it isn't and it has been. |
Yes, I remember discussing that particularly fascinating point at some length a while back. There certainly have been murder convictions in Britain in cases where no corpse has been found.
I believe that there have also been murder convictions in other countries where no body was found for the very good reason that no murder had taken place, and the 'victims' eventually rolled up safe and well!  |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 14-10-2013 17:39 Post subject: |
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Another report does little to unravel the mystery:
Forest Town bodies house couple 'vanished'
A couple who lived at a house where two bodies were found seem to have vanished without trace, police have said.
The property in Blenheim Close, Forest Town, in Nottinghamshire, was searched on 10 October after a tip-off.
The remains were found buried in the garden and appear to have been there for some time.
Residents William and Patricia Wycherley were last seen by neighbours in 1998 and police said there are no records of them since.
The couple, who would now be 100 and 79 years old respectively, moved into the property in 1987, detectives said, and were described by nearby residents as private and quiet.
Det Ch Insp Rob Griffin said: "Neither William nor Patricia were ever reported missing and we can find no evidence of either of them being alive or dead.
"The discovery in their former garden last week may be the reason why.
"We have yet to formally identify the remains, and so cannot say with 100% certainty who we have found, but it's not a great leap to imagine it might be the Wycherleys."
Police confirmed they were led to the house by information about an incident in the late 1990s but have released no more details.
They have also made contact with members of the missing couple's family.
Forensic enquires continue at the rear of the property.
A Home Office post-mortem examination took place on Friday and the results are being studied.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-24522344 |
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| OneWingedBird Great Old One Joined: 19 Nov 2012 Total posts: 542 Location: Attice of blinkey lights Age: 44 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 14-10-2013 18:21 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Det Ch Insp Rob Griffin said: "Neither William nor Patricia were ever reported missing and we can find no evidence of either of them being alive or dead. Shocked |
F*ck me! Were they attacked by Schrödinger's cat!  |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 14-10-2013 20:07 Post subject: |
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| OneWingedBird wrote: | | Quote: | | Det Ch Insp Rob Griffin said: "Neither William nor Patricia were ever reported missing and we can find no evidence of either of them being alive or dead. Shocked |
F*ck me! Were they attacked by Schrödinger's cat! |
Yes, most mysteries come down to quantum physics!
So who sold the house to the present owners? There's so much we're not being told.  |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 14-10-2013 20:09 Post subject: |
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| OneWingedBird wrote: | | Quote: | | Det Ch Insp Rob Griffin said: "Neither William nor Patricia were ever reported missing and we can find no evidence of either of them being alive or dead. Shocked |
F*ck me! Were they attacked by Schrödinger's cat! |
Yes, most mysteries come down to quantum physics!
So who sold the house to the present owners? There's so much we're not being told. |
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| Fanari_Lloyd Yeti Joined: 07 May 2012 Total posts: 61 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 14-10-2013 20:19 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | They have also made contact with members of the missing couple's family. |
Seems like the family must have been very distant not to realise anything was amiss!
I know some poor buggers die and are not missed until people report a bad smell - there was a case here a couple of years ago - but for a 'normal' kind of couple to just vanish without any-one querying it or apparently reporting it is almost unbelievable. Some-one would chase me up for an unpaid bill at least if I dropped off the face of the Earth. |
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| Kondoru Unfeathered Biped Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Total posts: 5788 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 14-10-2013 20:42 Post subject: |
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| Is it just me whos hoping its `not` them just to make the mystery even better??? |
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| Spookdaddy Cuckoo Joined: 24 May 2006 Total posts: 3924 Location: Midwich Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 14-10-2013 21:48 Post subject: |
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| Kondoru wrote: | | Is it just me whos hoping its `not` them just to make the mystery even better??? |
No, not at all. The closet writer of potboilers in me is thinking - hmm, so he'd be a 100 years old now, no administrative paper-trail, no contact with outside world, sudden disappearence, dead bodies in garden: obvious - Nazi war criminal. |
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| Kondoru Unfeathered Biped Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Total posts: 5788 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 14-10-2013 22:25 Post subject: |
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| Spookdaddy, your making it worse. |
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