The luxury home in Helmshore, Lancashire, where the body was found Source: PA Wire/PA Images

POLICE HAVE ARRESTED a 34-year-old woman on suspicion of the murder of a company director in her luxury UK country home.

The dead woman has yet to be formally identified but is believed to be 60-year-old Sadie Hartley according to Lancashire Police.

She was found in the hallway of her country home on Sunny Bank Road in Helmshore, about a half hour’s drive from Manchester, late on Friday evening. She had died as a result of multiple stab wounds a post mortem has confirmed.

Sadie Hartley Source: Lynch, Ella

The 34-year-old woman who was arrested, from nearby Chester, remains in police custody.

Sadie last made contact with a work colleague at 7.30pm last Thursday, 14 January. She had not been heard from since.

“We are making steady progress with this complex investigation with an arrest being made overnight,” said Detective Superintendent Paul Withers  of Lancashire Police’s Force Major Investigation Team (FMIT).

I would continue to urge anyone with information who has not yet come forward to do so as soon as possible to help us build up a clear picture of Sadie’s final movements and any suspicious activity in the area.

Helmshore, about 20 miles north of Manchester Source: Google Maps

Withers said that CCTV footage had revealed a Renault Clio and at least three walkers in the area of the crime scene at 8pm on Thursday.

He said that police want to trace the driver of that car and the people who had been walking as soon as possible.

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