Appeal refused for Wycherley killers

The daughter and son-in-law who murdered Forest Town couple Patricia and William Wycherley have had their planned sentence appeal rejected by a senior judge.

Last month, Chad exclusively revealed how Susan (56) and Christopher Edwards (57), who were both jailed for a minimum of 25 years for killing the reclusive couple in 1998, were planning to launch an appeal bid, claiming their sentences were too severe.

But it has now emerged that a Court of Appeal judge has reviewed the initial ruling, made in June at Nottingham Crown Court by Mrs Justice Kathryn Thirlwall, and refused the callous couple leave to appeal their sentences.

Following the murders, the Edwards then buried the elderly Wycherleys in the rear garden of their Blenheim Close home and spent the next 15 years maintaining the ‘lie’ that they were still alive.

Body found at 2 Blenheim Close, Forest Town.Body found at 2 Blenheim Close, Forest Town.
Body found at 2 Blenheim Close, Forest Town.

The couple netted hundreds of thousands of pounds from the Wycherleys over the next decade and a half, and convinced relatives and the authorities that they were still alive.

The Edwards, who were arrested last year following an international police hunt, wrote dozens of letters and cards pretending to be the Wycherleys, or explaining their absence through extensive foreign travel.

Mrs Justice Thirlwall said that Susan Edwards had initiated the killings but that her gun-fanatic husband had shot the Wycherleys “at point-blank range”.

Sentencing, she said that Susan Edwards had hated her father because he had sexually abused her as a child and because she felt he had swindled her out of money following the sale of their former London home.

She said: “William and Patricia Wycherley were living a quiet, reclusive life in Mansfield.

“They knew no one. They had as little contact as possible with other people. You knew they wouldn’t be missed if they disappeared, and they weren’t.”

The Edwards can now make one final appeal to have the appeal court judge’s decision overturned.

PICTURED: Susan and Christopher Edwards and police outside the Wycherley’s Blenheim Close home.

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