Chenery-Wickens - the investigation and murder trial

It took just over a year for Chenery-Wickens to be brought to justice for the murder of his wife Diane. During that time, Sussex Police and Diane's family made several appeals for information about her whereabouts.

But all the time, her husband David knew the key to her disappearance - and that their appeals would ultimately fail.

Throughout the investigation and the trial, he tried to cover his tracks with a series of elaborate stories and explanations. But today, a jury decided they did not believe his tissue of lies and found him guilty of murder.

Technology and interview techniques were crucial to help seal David Chenery-Wickens's guilt in the absence of any direct forensic evidence against him. The prosecution was unable to say exactly when, where and how Diane Chenery-Wickens met her death because of the four-month gap before her body was found in woodland.

The trial also heard Chenery-Wickens was believed responsible for destroying forensic evidence, such as blood stains on the carpet, after killing her. It meant the prosecution case leant heavily on technology such as mobile phone tracking to help undermine Chenery-Wickens's claims of where he and Diane were at certain times.

But it was CCTV of him at East Grinstead train station which led detectives to believe they had their killer. They also photographed visible cuts and scratches on his hands and wrists, which he said he had suffered after cutting back brambles in the garden.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Johns, of Sussex Police's major crime branch, said: “In this case other means, such as telephony and simple interview techniques of a suspect who kept changing his accounts on different occasions, led us to this point.

“Just because there is no forensic evidence doesn't mean that there aren't other lines of inquiry.” Chenery-Wickens was the only suspect because of the inconsistencies in his accounts in the early days of the inquiry, said Mr Johns, who led Operation Hartley.

Mr Johns said the exact point when police knew they had who murdered Mrs Chenery-Wickens within their sights came on the evening of January 30 last year. It was then that they obtained CCTV footage from East Grinstead station showing Chenery-Wickens alone, contradicting his claim that he travelled by train to London with his wife six days before.

“To all intents and purposes, David was on his own and that was contrary to the two accounts he had given at that point,” said Mr Johns. “That's when we declared him as a suspect and the decision was taken that this was a murder inquiry and not a missing person inquiry.”

The case involved more than 120 police officers at various points of the inquiry, more than 1,500 exhibits, more than 3,000 documents and 600 witness statements. Mr Johns said there were no other cases Chenery-Wickens was being linked to and he confirmed he had no previous convictions.

Click on the timeline below to see how events unfolded.