Police hunt lodger after two women found dead

Police are hunting a lodger after his landlady and her mother were found dead.

Avon lady Angela Holgate, 54, and 75-year-old Alice Huyton were found by a relative at Mrs Holgate’s home near Southport yesterday evening.

Officers are treating the deaths as suspicious and post-mortem examinations were taking place tonight to establish the cause.

Detectives want to speak to lodger Barry Morrow, 51, who lived with divorced Mrs Holgate in the smart semi on Fairhaven Road, Churchtown. It is thought he may have travelled to either France or Spain.

Mrs Huyton was last seen on Friday evening when she left her home in Southport to visit her daughter.

Mrs Holgate, the mother of two adult daughters, had been ill and had not been seen out of the house for the previous week.

A relative went to the property on Saturday when nothing was heard from the women and the bodies were found. Police were called to the scene at around 5.45pm.

Mrs Huyton was married and her husband, thought to be in his 80s, was said to be “devastated” at news of the deaths.

Stunned neighbours described Ms Holgate as a “lovely, quiet woman”. She had lived in the house for around 20 years.

Mr Morrow was first seen at the address earlier this year. He had recently re-paved the front garden and driveway.

A neighbour who stopped to compliment him on the work said: “I told him he was doing a good job and he told me he was the lodger. He asked me if I needed any jobs doing about the house. He was very powerfully built, he could lift the flagstones with one hand. He seemed very affable.

“She was quiet but always said hello. I haven’t the faintest idea what could have happened. It’s very worrying.”