Police have launched a murder investigation eight years after the death of the husband of a con woman known as the Black Widow.

The body of advertising manager Julian Webb was discovered at the house he shared with his wife, Dena Thompson, in Yapton, near Arundel, in 1994.

Although there were suspicions about his death at the time, no murder inquiry was carried out.

But after months of work, Sussex Police announced yesterday they were launching a murder inquiry.

A spokesman said: "The death of Mr Webb is being treated as murder. For evidential reasons, police are unable to comment on the reason for the reopening of the inquiry. A number of lines of inquiry are being pursued."

Mr Webb married Dena Thompson at a register office in Chichester after a whirlwind romance in 1991, becoming her second husband.

Three years after the wedding, on his 31st birthday, Mr Webb was found dead at the couple's home in Douglas Close, following an overdose of paracetamol and anti-depressants.

Police carried out an initial investigation but found no evidence of foul play.

But an inquest recorded an open verdict after the coroner said he was satisfied Mr Webb would never have considered taking his own life.

Six years later, Thompson went on trial at Lewes Crown Court for the attempted murder of her third husband, Richard Thompson.

She was acquitted but convicted of defrauding him and a string of other lovers and sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.

At the time, Judge Anthony Scott Gall branded her "a serious risk to vulnerable members of society" and a police officer who worked on the case dubbed her "one of the most dangerous people I have ever met".

Enough suspicion was raised during the trial to prompt police to exhume Mr Webb's body last year from a graveyard in Hayling Island and mount a new investigation into his death.

A post-mortem was carried out and samples from the body were sent to German toxicologist Dr Hans Sach, who was recommended by the Harold Shipman inquiry, to carry out tests.

Anyone with information about Mr Webb's death can contact police on 0845 6070999.