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Body find is missing disabled man | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Police believe a body found on Wednesday evening is that of a missing disabled 22-year-old man. | |
James Hughes was reported missing on Saturday along with his mother, Heather Wardle, 39. A man and a youth have been arrested on suspicion of murder. | |
Ms Wardle was found with a ligature around her neck at the base of a tree near her home in Church Hill, Redditch, Worcestershire, on Monday. | |
The second body was found at a house in Church Hill, Redditch. | |
Police have cordoned off part of Loxley Close, near where Ms Wardle lived. | |
A white tent has also been erected by police in the back garden of one of the houses, believed to be her home. | |
A white tent has been erected outside one of the houses | A white tent has been erected outside one of the houses |
The two arrested men are being questioned at police stations in Kidderminster and Redditch, West Mercia Constabulary said. | |
Police said it was expected to take some time to check dental records in order to formally identify the body found on Wednesday. A post-mortem examination is being carried out. | |
Both Mr Hughes and his mother were reported missing on Saturday, but detectives have been trying to establish when the last sighting of Mr Hughes, who had a mental age of 18 months and needed 24-hour care, was. | |
They believe his mother died within 24 hours of leaving her home on Friday evening, when she had said she was going to visit a friend. | |
Detectives are treating her death as "unexplained". | |
'Sad case' | |
Supt Jane Horwood, of West Mercia Constabulary, said it was one of the saddest cases the force had ever dealt with. | |
"What started out as a missing persons inquiry has tragically become an investigation into two deaths," she said. | |
"While we never gave up hope of finding both Heather and James alive, we were extremely concerned about both of them right from the start, and our fears for James obviously increased after the discovery of his mother's body. | |
"This is without doubt one of the saddest cases West Mercia Constabulary has dealt with and the events of the last few days have left residents of Church Hill and the wider Redditch community shocked." | |
Ms Wardle had a partner, Brian Kirby, and was also mother to three other children: Daniel, 17, Callum, eight and six-year-old Luke. |