Missing make-up woman's husband arrested for murder

David Chenery-Wickens was tonight being questioned by detectives investigating the disappearance of his wife.

The couple's £500,000 house, known as Hazelden Cottage, in the sleepy village of Duddleswell, near Crowborough, was combed by forensic teams until darkness fell this evening.

The drains surrounding the house were dredged and the Citroen and Mercedes cars parked on the couple's gravel drive were searched by specialist forensic squads.

Five search teams and several police vans attended the house which is surrounded by woodland.

Mrs Chenery-Wickens, 48, had been nominated for Emmys and BAFTAS and worked on hit TV series including Dead Ringers and The League of Gentlemen.

She was reported missing by her husband, David, 51, last Thursday.

He claimed he had travelled with his wife from East Grinstead to London by train at 11.07am and said goodbye to her at Kensington Olympia train station shortly after midday.

He then claimed he went to meet her in the afternoon at Bloww hairdressers in Regent Place but called the Metropolitan Police when he was told by staff she had not attended the appointment. He returned to Sussex later that night.

But early this morning David Chenery-Wickens, a reverend in a spiritualist church, was arrested by Sussex Police on suspicion of murdering his wife.

The search for her was not focused on London but on the fields surrounding the couple's home.

The investigation by Sussex Police was handed over to Detective Chief Inspector Steve Johns, from the force's major crime unit, who is known for his work on murder cases.

Search teams wearing white masks and blue forensic suits gained access to the couple's house at around 3pm.

Officers called at neighbouring houses and the nearby Duddleswell Tea Rooms in the search for anyone who might be able to give vital clues about what has happened to Mrs Chenery-Wickens.

Mrs Chenery-Wickens's distressed brother, Russell Wickens, 50, spoke to The Argus as he drove from his home in Bristol to his elderly parents who live close to his sister in Crowborough.

He said: "It's going to be grim, so grim. The state my parents are in is beyond words.

"David is a reverend in a spiritualist church but I don't know which one and I haven't seen him for many years. I wouldn't say there was anything in his personality that would give me cause for suspicion but then I didn't know him very well. I can't even remember how they met.

"As far as I knew their marriage was Ok.

"I'm in a state of shock. This is a terrible day for us. I don't want my parents to see the police or forensics that's all I'm thinking about now."

The Chenery-Wickenses have been married for 11 years and have lived at Hazelden Cottage for the past five years.

A neighbour described Diane as: "Extremely nice - a very lovely girl. I spoke to David a week or so ago and there didn't appear to be anything wrong."

Guy Hardy owns the fields that surround Hazelden Cottage and yesterday opened the fields up for police to search.

Mr Hardy said: "David is a vicar of some sort. He does charity work in hostels around here. They were a nice couple but I think she was always very busy.

"I find it very sad. The last time I saw her was when she came over to say hello to me on my tractor last summer."

A local gardener in Duddleswell was also approached by police yesterday as they carried out their search.

He described Diane as gregarious and friendly. He said: "I was doing some work on fields close to the house and she came over to say hello and chat to me."

A friend of Mr Chenery-Wickens said he often wore a dog collar and sometimes acted as a minister to several country parishes in the area, organising weddings, funerals and christenings.

He is secretary of the Lavender Line preserved railway and has been described as a model railway buff.

Marion Taylor, the shop manager of the Lavender Line, said: "David and Diane would often come in for coffee. They seemed fine.

"He's not the sort of person to be involved with something like this. He'd sometimes say he didn't know where she was because she was so busy."