Teacher strangled, set alight and dumped in wood

MURDER squad detectives are hunting a killer who strangled a schoolteacher and left her body burning in woods.

British Music teacher Jane Longhurst, described as a “devoted daughter and sister” who taught special needs children, had been murdered and her body set alight in countryside near Pulborough, West Sussex on Saturday evening.

Ms Longhurst, 31, vanished from the Brighton home she shared with her long-term partner Malcolm Sentance, 34, on March 14.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Dennis, leading the inquiry into Miss Longhurst’s disappearance, said the sympathy of the force was with her grieving family.

Her mother Liz, sister Sue and Mr Sentance had in recent weeks made several emotional public appeals for information about her whereabouts.

A Sussex police spokesman said dental records were used to identify the body found on a nature reserve at 8.30pm on Saturday.

A post mortem revealed she was strangled and had been dead for some time. The spokesman said her body was set alight using an accelerant.

Detectives investigating the grim find at Wiggonholt Common said Ms Longhurst had been dead for “a long time”.

A police spokesman said: “A post mortem took place during the afternoon and it was established that the body was that of Jane Longhurst, missing from Brighton since March 14. Her identity was confirmed via dental records.

“It is believed she was killed by a depression to the neck or strangulation. Wiggonholt Common was a deposition site for Jane’s body and was not where she was killed. Jane had been dead for a long period of time.”

Police also revealed certain key belongings of Ms Longhurst, last seen at the door to her house in Shaftesbury Road, Brighton were still missing. They included a Nokia 3310 mobile phone, a black Next wallet, a pair of shoes and a blue denim jacket.

A team of 40 detectives had been baffled by her disappearance.

Ten days ago, as police put up a £5,000 reward, her family pleaded with anyone with vital information to come forward to end their “living nightmare.”

There was only one sighting of Ms Longhurst after she went missing on March 14. A neighbour claimed to have seen her carrying bags of shopping which have never been found.

Ms Longhurst’s sister Sue said: “Someone, somewhere must know something. A woman does not just disappear although that is what appears to have happened.”