A former mayor and her husband have been found dead at their home in the Chilterns in an apparent case of murder-suicide.
Neighbours said that they had alerted police after hearing a gunshot. Officers discovered the bodies of Janette and John Dunbavand, both 81, at their home near Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, at about 8am yesterday.
One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said that Mrs Dunbavand, who was mayor of the borough of Dacorum in 1994, had been suffering from dementia. The couple had both served on the local Northchurch parish council and were described as “well loved and respected”.
Several hours after the bodies were found, a police car remained parked in a quiet lane overlooking fields beside the Dubavands’ detached home, which was