A CELEBRITY-obsessed wife convicted yesterday of murdering her parents to
steal £300,000 spent half of it on signed memorabilia.
Susan Edwards, 56, and husband Christopher, 57, buried Pat and Bill Wycherley
under their lawn in Mansfield, Notts — but pretended they were alive for 15
years to milk cash in their names.
They will be sentenced to life on Monday.
Evil killer Susan Edwards had a bizarre fixation with dead icons including
Frank Sinatra and Fifties film heart-throb Gary Cooper.
Alongside her accounts clerk husband Christopher, she used the proceeds of a
chilling murder plot to fund a £150,000 hoard of autographed memorabilia
from the stars.
The huge outlay accounted for half the £300,000 stolen by the Edwards.
But their crazed souvenir hobby meant the pair continued to live a frugal
lifestyle in a council flat and remained crippled by debt.
Susan’s obsession with “powerful men of a certain age” emerged yesterday as
the Edwards were convicted at Nottingham Crown Court of murdering Bill, 85,
and wife Pat, 63, in May 1998.
Her weird fantasy world also extended to wartime PM Winston Churchill, French
leader Charles de Gaulle and legendary Liverpool boss Bill Shankly — with
whom she claimed she had an AFFAIR.
She also pretended to be involved in a 14-year correspondence with movie
hellraiser Gerard Depardieu — writing herself faked letters from the
Frenchman which she had signed herself.
Even Christopher was fooled by that deception until Susan admitted to police
shortly before the trial that the letters weren’t real.
He told the court in his evidence: “I have only just been told all the
hundreds of letters were written by my wife. I was shocked. I’ve no idea why
she did it.”
The warped scam gave police an insight into the twisted mind of killer
housewife Susan — showing how lying and making up stories came naturally to
her.
Only child Susan, 56, bore a festering grudge against her parents, who she
accused of swindling her out of a £10,000 inheritance.
And after she shared her grievance with Christopher, who she met through a
dating agency, they went on to murder the Wycherleys.
Cops are sure balding gun fanatic Christopher, 57, shot her parents in their
bed at point-blank range using a WW11 .38 revolver — as Susan looked on.
The Edwards then went on to bury their bodies “one on top of the other” in a
3ft grave under the back lawn of their semi in Forest Town, Mansfield,
Notts.
Within days grasping Susan had turned her reclusive mother’s pension account
at the Halifax into a joint one by forging her signature.
She emptied it of £40,000 straight away and over the next 15 years she and her
husband stole from her dead parents.
Using forged documents they sold the Wycherleys’ house, claimed their
£800-a-month pensions, took out loans in their names and nicked disability
benefits.
Childless Susan, once a police civilian clerk, replied to letters and cards
written to her parents by relatives — signing off in their names.
But while the Edwards continued to live modestly in Dagenham, Essex, they
would think nothing of spending thousands at a time on their memorabilia
hobby.
In one 12-month period, they spent £14,000 on five documents signed by
two-time Oscar winner Cooper — famed for Westerns like High Noon.
As they were convicted yesterday, they still owed creditors over £166,000.
DCI Rob Griffin, who led the investigation, said: “They are the most unusual
pair of killers I have ever dealt with.
“Parts of the case can only be described as incredible. They stole almost
£300,000 from her dead parents but there was no champagne lifestyle, posh
houses, holidays or fast cars.
“They went everywhere on National Express buses. Neither could drive. The only
thing we can find they spent the money on was autographed memorabilia, which
they were both obsessed with.
“When they were arrested they had one euro in cash on them — no credit on
their phones. But she was carrying a suitcase stuffed with as many
autographed letters, photos and documents as she could carry.
“We can’t put an exact figure on what they spent but they have estimated
it was tens and tens of thousands of pounds.”
He added: “In the end they gave themselves up because the money had finally
run out. They couldn’t steal or borrow another penny.They’re a cold and
calculating couple who lived only for each other and had no children or
friends.”
Detectives are sure the motive for the murders festered with ex-librarian
Susan for three decades.
DCI Griffin revealed her parents “effectively” cheated her out of a £10,000
inheritance from her step grandmother in the early 1980s. The Wycherleys
persuaded her as a teenager to invest in a house, but removed her name from
the deeds and sold it after she wed.
DCI Griffin said: “This case is all about money. A sum like that was a lot to
lose back then and Susan Edwards never forgot it.”
During the trial, the Edwards held hands walking in and out of the dock and
pecked each other on the cheek. Jurors took six hours to find both guilty of
the murders.
Judge Mrs Justice Thirlwall told them they will get life when they are
sentenced on Monday.
Queen’s telegram blew 15yr cover-up
THE murdered couple’s killers got away with pretending they were still alive
for 15 years — until victim Bill was due for a telegram from the Queen at
reaching 100.
Daughter Susan Edwards, 56, spent years forging her parents’ signature on
official documents, while writing postcards and notes to relatives claiming
“Father” was alive and well.
But she fainted when a letter to him arrived. And hubby Christopher, 57, who
had used an “old man’s voice” to impersonate Bill in phone calls, broke down
in tears.
The letter from the Department for Work and Pensions requested a face-to-face
meeting to organise the telegram.
Edwards and her hubby — by then skint — fled to France from their council flat
in Dagenham, Essex.
They spent a year holed up in a poky apartment near the EuroStar terminal in
Lille. Desperate for money, the husband rang his stepmum Elizabeth — a
retired professor.
But he forgot himself — and lapsed into a “fixed and rehearsed” story he and
his wife had concocted in case they were rumbled.
Their tale was that Susan’s mum had shot her dad in a row — and Susan had then
shot her in panic. To shield his wife, Christopher had helped bury the
bodies.
Elizabeth rang 999. She told the stunned operator: “I would like to report a
crime. My stepson and his wife buried her mum and dad under the back lawn of
their house in 1998.”
As the net closed, police got an email from France.
In it the pair informed cops: “We are going to surrender ourselves to the UK
Border Force authorities.” They boarded a Eurostar train.
Detectives were waiting as it pulled into London’s St Pancras station.