A HUSBAND has paid tribute to his wife whose body was found in woodland.

Helen Slaughter, 49, was last seen leaving her home in Barnham near Chichester at 6am on November 1, 2017.

Despite a nationwide appeal, there was no trace of her.

Then last week police said they had found a body in Walberton, near Arundel, and later confirmed it was that of the mother of three.

Ken Slaughter, 62, said his wife was a kind woman who loved animals and gardening.

He said: “She was a very lovely person.

“We have a pony named Biena, two dogs, two cockatoos, a budgie and a tortoise.

“Helen was a horse rider and she had Biena for ten years.

“Previously Biena had an abscess in her front right hoof. She got better but in October 2017 she got laminitis and we thought she was going to be lame.

“Helen was very worried – and then two days later she went missing. It was a huge shock for the family when we found out what happened.

“We had reports from Warwickshire of a possible sighting and we had high hopes.

“On December 30 someone reported that a woman who bore a strong resemblance to Helen, was discharged from George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton. The woman had similar height, hair and clothes to Helen.

“Warwickshire and Sussex Police were contacted and they issued an appeal.

“We got very optimistic, we thought she could be coming home soon.

“But police knocked on our door at about 3.30pm on Tuesday and told us they found human remains and they believed it was Helen.

“We went to identify the remains.

“There were a pair of Ariat boots and a big bunch of keys and one of them looked like the front door keys.

“Then they did dental checks and confirmed it was Helen. It was a big shock because we kept hoping that she would turn up.”

Mr Slaughter, who works at Network Rail as a signaller, met his wife in the Eighties when they were working for the Royal Mail in Henfield.

They married in 1990 in Worthing and moved to Barnham.

Mrs Slaughter, who was born in Haywards Heath and went to school in Lancing, was a teaching assistant at Barnham Primary School until 2007.

The death is not being treated as suspicious and the coroner’s officer is continuing enquiries.