Body of woman found dumped in woodland on Royals’ estate
A murder investigation is under way after the remains of a woman were discovered by a dog walker on the Queen’s estate at Sandringham. Police say they are looking at missing persons reports and cold cases across the country.
The body was found in woodland on the Queen’s estate in Norfolk on New Year’s Day, but there is no indication yet of when the woman died, or how.
Officers cordoned off a large area of woodland less than a mile from where the Royal Family gathered for Christmas.
Residents said forensic officers had spent more than 24 hours scouring a line of trees bordering farmland. The scene is a stone’s throw from the Royal Stud where the Queen oversees the breeding and training of race horses. One estate worker, who declined to be named, told the Daily Mail that the police operation has been shrouded in secrecy. He said: “It is completely cordoned off. It looks like they have closed a big area. “The Sandringham stud is less than quarter of a mile away and the Queen rides across this country. What is really strange is that no one knows anything about it. On the estate everyone knows everything about what is going on.’
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are in residence at the estate, accompanied by the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their two young children. More than 200 people live at Sandringham, including farmers, foresters, gamekeepers and gardeners. It is also a popular tourist attraction that includes huge swathes of farmland and woodland as well as orchards and fields of soft fruit, sprinkled with idyllic rural properties. The house and private gardens cover 59 acres, but the estate also has 590 acres of woods and open countryside in a section that is open to the public free of charge all year.