Detectives in Northern Ireland have been given more time to question a 40-year-old man over the murder of a pensioner couple in Co Armagh on Friday.
Michael and Lilian 'Marjorie' Cawdery were both 83. It is believed they were stabbed to death at their home in Portadown on Friday in what a senior officer described as a brutal attack.
A 40-year-old man was arrested after the killings after being found close to a vehicle stolen from the couple’s house. Detectives in the PSNI’s serious crime branch secured more time to detain and question the man after applying to the courts. “The extension was approved by a court today. Police inquiries are ongoing,” the PSNI said on Sunday.
The family of the couple have spoken of their “awful and incomprehensible” deaths. This has “deprived our family of two wonderful people Michael and Marjorie who were our father, mother, brother, sister and grandparents,” the Cawdery family in a statement.
“We thank the police for their prompt response and professional actions. We also thank everyone who has expressed sympathy in whatever way and offered help,” the family said as it appealed for privacy.
The man was arrested in the Springfields area of Portadown shortly after the deaths.
He is thought to have been detained under the Mental Health Act prior to the killings. It is understood he had been at a mental health facility at Craigavon Area Hospital. It is not clear if he absconded from the unit or left there unchallenged.
It is thought the Southern Health and Social Care Trust has launched an investigation into the incident. A spokeswoman for the trust declined to comment on the basis that a PSNI investigation is under way.
It is understood police are investigating if the couple was killed in a possible “botched burglary”.
Det Supt Kevin Geddes said at around 12.20pm on Friday, officers received a report of a man breaking into the Cawdery's grey Renault Kango van registration NJZ 6101.
The vehicle was then found in the Edenderry Gardens area at around 5pm.
"We need to know the movements of this car from the time it left Upper Ramone Park until it was recovered in Edenderry Gardens," he said.
‘Heinous crime’
Politicians from across the political spectrum have spoken of the sadness and shock in the local community at what has been described as a “heinous crime”.
SDLP councillor Declan McAlinden said: “The entire community is just in shock that someone could murder an elderly couple in their own home like this.” The DUP’s outgoing Upper Bann MP David Simpson said his thoughts and prayers were with the family.
Doug Beattie MLA, the Ulster Unionist Westminster candidate for Upper Bann, said the man had been taken to a mental health facility at Craigavon Area Hospital and that after leaving there he went on to kill the couple.
“I was on the scene shortly after the incident and the local community was visibly shocked,” he added.