Arrest 35 years after horrific attack brings back memories for town

COMMUNITY WAS SHOCKED AT DAD'S DEATH AND FAMILY'S ORDEAL

- By LOUIS CORBETT

ON their return from the British Legion club, Kevin and Denise Childerley had put their young children to sleep on the eve of Monday, February 19, 1990, and went to bed at about midnight after watching some television in their terraced house in the middle of Mansfield Woodhouse.

Hours later, two intruders snuck into the house through the kitchen window, while the family were sleeping, and carried out a savage attack that left a community in horror.

The frenzied attack left Kevin so severely injured that he died at the scene, and his wife, Denise, was also gravely injured, causing her to lose an eye to what Nottinghamshire Police believe was a hatchet or axe used by the two assailants.

Thirty-five years later, Sherwood Street/Yorke Street has changed significantly, yet detectives have not changed their dogged vision of catching those responsible, as more than three decades later, an arrest has been made.

Developments in the investigation led to the arrest of a 62-year-old woman at the end of April this year on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in connection with the incident. As Detective Chief Inspector Ruby Burrow stated: "The case has never been closed."