Woman found dead at home in Stewarton, Ayrshire

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/11/andrena-douglas-found-dead-stewarton-ayrshire

Version 0 of 1.

A murder investigation has been launched after a woman was found dead at her home in Ayrshire in Scotland.

Andrena Douglas, 53, was found dead in her house in Stewarton by police officers at about 6.20am on Thursday. They had gone to the property to tell her that her partner had been found seriously injured in a caravan fire nearby. Police Scotland are now investigating whether the two events are connected. The force revealed they are treating the death as murder following the results of a postmortem examination carried out on Friday.

DI Martin Fergus, of the major investigation team, said: “Officers had attended at Ms Douglas’s home to inform her that her partner had been found seriously injured following a fire at nearby Peacockbank Farm, Stewarton, around 5.15am on Thursday, but they found her dead in the house. We are currently following a number of lines of enquiry regarding both incidents and whilst at this time we cannot link Ms Douglas’s death and the fire in which her partner was injured, we also cannot rule it out. However, it is imperative that people do not make assumptions as this may seriously hinder our enquiry.”

Detectives want to establish what happened between 8pm on 8 June, when Douglas was last seen, and the time her body was found the following day.

Fergus urged anyone with information to come forward. He said: “To this end, I would appeal to anyone who was in the area, who may have seen any suspicious activity – whether that would be a vehicle or someone on foot in the area – to contact police. The man injured in the fire is still critically ill in hospital and so far we have been unable to talk to him. How and why the fire started has still to be established and a joint investigation between police and Scottish fire and rescue is under way.”

Anyone with information about the murder or the fire is asked to contact the incident room in Kilmarnock on 01563 505 172, or the police via 101.