A U.K. woman has been charged with murder after a body was found buried in a backyard, according to police.
Northamptonshire Police stated that officers arrested Fiona Beal, 48, on Mar. 16 in Cumbria in the north of England. Officers carried out a search of a property in the town of Northampton, more than 200 miles south.
A police spokesperson said in a Facebook post on Sunday that officers were called to a home in Northampton on Wednesday when they performed a search of the entire property.
The Facebook post continued: “Forensic officers and specialist search teams, including a cadaver dog, were deployed, and following extensive search a body was discovered buried in the rear garden of the property yesterday afternoon (Saturday, March 19).”
Police also added that the remains were scheduled to be taken to a Home Office pathologist in Leicester for examination.
“Regrettably I can confirm that a body has been found in the rear garden of the address,” Detective Chief Inspector Adam Pendlebury, from the Major Crime team of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit said. “We believe it to be that of a missing 42-year-old male, but formal identification has yet to take place.”
He continued, “Police officers have been conducting house-to-house inquiries in the area over the past couple of days. This remains a complex and challenging investigation and we are appealing for anyone with any information to contact Northampton Police on 101, quoting incident number 26 of March 16, 2022.”
On Monday, Beal appeared at Northampton Magistrates’ Court.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there were 594 homicide victims in England and Wales in the year ending March 2021. This was 19 fewer than the previous year, which brought to the conclusion that the overall homicide total was the lowest since March 2016, when 540 individuals were registered as homicide victims.