POLICE searching for missing actress Sian Blake and her two children say they have found three bodies at the family home.
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Arthur Simpson-Kent, 48, is being hunted by Scotland Yard murder detectives after Ms Blake and their two children, Zachary, eight, and Amon, four, went missing on December 13.
Detective Superintendent Monk added: “Sadly, as part of a thorough forensic search we are carrying out at the family’s home in Erith, we recovered three bodies from the garden of the property”.
Asked about r eports suggesting he has fled to Africa a Scotland Yard spokesman said: ” Whether or not he is in the country is one line of inquiry”. “She was a happy woman”.
She suffered from motor neurone disease, a rapidly progressing condition which affects the spine and is ultimately fatal, and she was described by friends as being very frail.
Mr Simpson-Kent is a light-skinned black man who is 6ft 2in tall.
She was in the BBC soap for 56 episodes, reportedly quitting in 1997 because of hostility from viewers towards her manipulative character.
On December 18, officers went back to the actress’ home in Erith, and after there was no answer forced their way in. I used to see her and her kids playing in the garden.
A post-mortem will take place today at Farnborough’s Princess Royal Hospital to establish how Sian and her sons died.
“I knew she was ill but we didn’t know with what. I never saw the man”.
The Metropolitan police has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission on Wednesday, amid concerns that officers were slow to treat the disappearance as high risk.
A family member had reported the three missing on 16 December, and two days later a missing persons inquiry was launched, but not classed as high risk.
Scotland Yard could not provide details of how many times in total police had visited, or searched, the house.
“They have all been missing for a considerable period of time now, and I am growing increasingly concerned for their welfare”.
One of Miss Blake’s aunts questioned the conduct of officers as the delay in finding three bodies in her garden was handed over to the police watchdog.
On Monday (January 4) when the murder squad took over, the Met’s professional standards team was brought in and is looking into how the investigation was handled.
Another neighbour said her son had been close to Blake’s children and that, looking back, it seemed odd that when her son had started school, Ms Blake’s youngest had not.
It then took two-weeks for police to issue a a public appeal to find out where she and her sons were.
On Sunday, police found Blake’s silver Renault Scenic in Calvert Avenue in Bethnal Green, east London, 15 miles from the family home in Erith.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact them on 020 8721 4805 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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She also appeared in episodes of The Bill, Casualty, Doctors and Skins.
