WYCHERLEY MURDERS: Callous killers plan appeal

The daughter and son-in-law who murdered Forest Town couple Patricia and William Wycherley have launched a legal bid to have their sentences cut.

Susan (56) and Christopher Edwards (57) were both jailed for a minimum of 25 years for killing the reclusive couple in 1998.

They then buried the elderly pair in the rear garden of their Blenheim Close home and spent the next 15 years maintaining the ‘lie’ that the Wycherleys were still alive.

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The oddball 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.

A general view of a police tent in the garden of a house in Blenheim Close, Forest Town, near Mansfield, where the remains of two people have been found.  PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday October 11, 2013. See PA story POLICE Remains. Photo credit should read: Rui Vieira/PA WireA general view of a police tent in the garden of a house in Blenheim Close, Forest Town, near Mansfield, where the remains of two people have been found.  PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday October 11, 2013. See PA story POLICE Remains. Photo credit should read: Rui Vieira/PA Wire
A general view of a police tent in the garden of a house in Blenheim Close, Forest Town, near Mansfield, where the remains of two people have been found. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday October 11, 2013. See PA story POLICE Remains. Photo credit should read: Rui Vieira/PA Wire

The Edwards, who were jailed for life at Nottingham Crown Court in June following an international police hunt, wrote dozens of letters and cards pretending to be the Wycherleys, or explaining their absence through extensive foreign travel.

EXCLUSIVE - RELATIVES SPEAK OUT A YEAR AFTER BODY FINDS. Read the full story. CLICK HERE

EDWARDS FOUND GUILTY. To read the original court report CLICK HERE

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The Court of Appeal in London has now confirmed that the Edwards, who blew more than £285,000 of the Wycherleys’ cash between 1998 and their arrests last November, have applied for leave to appeal their sentences.

Their case will be reviewed by a Court of Appeal judge later this month, who will decide whether to grant the pair permission to formally appeal against their sentences, on the grounds that they were too severe.

Speaking exclusively to Chad, relatives of the Wycherleys said they were “shocked but not surprised” by the news.

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

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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.

EDWARDS JAILED FOR MIN 25 YEARS. To read the original court report CLICK HERE

The Edwards were also heavily in debt and spent a fortune on film memorabilia before eventually fleeing to France when they realised the game was up, the court was told. Speaking at the time, Mrs Justice Thirlwall said: “These were shocking crimes. 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.

PICTURED: Christopher and Susan Edwards and police in the rear garden of the Wycherley’s former home in Forest Town.