Cambridgeshire shooting – news: Victims were father and son as police probe ‘custody battle’

A neighbour who works at a local shop said she saw “three or four police cars” going towards Earith, Cambridgeshire, on Wednesday night.

Speaking outside her house just off The Row, in Sutton, she said: “Last night I took the dog out into the garden.

“We saw three or four police cars going towards Earith and thought nothing of it really because we had had a couple of people ragging around the village. But other than that I didn’t really hear anything.”

The woman, who did not want to give her name, said she was “shocked” when she saw the news on Facebook on Thursday morning.

“Especially that it is just on the corner of where I live,” she added.

She said she did not know the victim.

A 52-year-old man who lives just off The Row in Sutton, Cambridgeshire, said the victim “lived a quiet life”.

The man, who did not want to give his name, said: “He kept himself to himself.

“Never really came across him as far as I know.

“Just lived a quiet life, very unassuming.

“Never really saw him about.”

A woman who lives close to a new build cul-de-sac estate sealed off by murder detectives in Bluntisham, Cambridgeshire said she could hear a helicopter circling on Wednesday evening.

The woman, speaking anonymously, said: “There was helicopter noise, that was late, around 10pm or 11pm, somewhere around that.

“I was in bed reading my book. It kept circling around, it was for at least half an hour before it went.

“Considering how quiet the village is it’s really surprising to hear this has happened.”

A neighbour said the row of new houses which is behind police tape are modern, built around two years ago.

Retail worker Sharon Coulson, 58, who lives nearby described Bluntisham as a “nice place to live, nice country walks, friendly, everybody says hello”.

Sarah Lown, who also lives near to the houses sealed off by murder detectives in Sutton, said there were no sirens on Wednesday, “just the flashing lights”.

She said a man who lived at one of the properties sealed off by police “always had really fancy cars out the front, souped up, cool looking cars”.

“I don’t know if he worked with cars,” she said.

“I had never met him so I don’t know.”

Detective chief superintendent Jon Hutchinson, of Cambridgeshire Police, said that officers made a “very quick two arrests in a hotel just outside Cambridge”. “In the early hours of this morning we did a joint operation alongside West Mercia Police at which stage a 66-year-old man was arrested on the motorway by armed officers,” he said.

“Following his arrest his vehicle was searched and I can confirm we have recovered a firearm.”

He said the man was in police custody in Worcester and is being transported to Cambridgeshire for interview.

Three forensic officers in white suits entered one of the two semi-detached houses that have been sealed off by murder detectives in The Row, Sutton, Cambridgeshire, on Thursday afternoon.

They went in via a gate next to the house rather than through the front door.

Samantha Inpey who lives in The Row, Sutton, Cambridgeshire, described the victim as “tall” with “grey hair”.

The 51-year-old IT worker told the PA news agency that she knew him “in passing”.

“I think he was a builder,” she said.

“He was working on his drive at the weekend. He had all the tools for putting patio paving slabs down so I have to assume he was a builder.”

Detective chief superintendent Jon Hutchinson, of Cambridgeshire Police, said that officers made a “very quick two arrests in a hotel just outside Cambridge“.

“In the early hours of this morning we did a joint operation alongside West Mercia Police at which stage a 66-year-old man was arrested on the motorway by armed officers,” he said.

“Following his arrest his vehicle was searched and I can confirm we have recovered a firearm.”

He said the man was in police custody in Worcester and is being transported to Cambridgeshire for interview.