Murdered mother was to emigrate

The gardener was tied to Beverley Payne's Mercedes

Murdered mother Beverley Payne was preparing to start a new life in South America with her partner this week, police have revealed.

Her partner Chris Davies returned home "completely devastated" from a business trip in Venezuela to comfort his two children after her body was found stabbed at their home in Neath on Wednesday afternoon.

Model Beverley Payne had been stabbed in the chest

Hours before the discovery, a man drove the couple's Mercedes SLK Coupé in to Swansea's Prince of Wales docks and to his death.

Police have now revealed he was Ms Payne's gardener and odd job man, 33-year-old Nicholas Mark Davies from Gorseinon near Swansea, who she had a close friendship with.

A post-mortem examination revealed he died from drowning, while another on model and aerobics instructor Ms Payne found she was killed by a single stab wound

South Wales Police found a blood-stained knife in the family's home and has been sent for forensic testing.

'Completely devastated'

Chris Davies said: "I have been completely devastated by the loss of Beverley and I find it difficult to put into words how I am feeling.

"Beverley and I have been together for five years. We were devoted to each other and our two beautiful children.

"Beverley was a bubbly, vivacious person and we were very much in love.

"We had a stable and loving relationship and we about to embark on a new life together in the Dutch Antilles."

Mr Davies was appointed to a top-level managerial post in a communications company earlier this year and this week moved to a new three-bedroom home in anticipation of Beverley and the two children joining him later in the week.

Detective Chief Superintendent Wynne Phillips, who is heading the investigation, said the two deaths are definitely linked - Nicholas Davies and Chris Davies had a business relationship and Nicholas had stayed at Ms Payne's house on previous occasions.

Home plans

Ms Payne's two children, aged 3 years and 11 months, had spent hours alone with their mother's body before a caller to the house in Priory Court raised the alarm Wednesday lunchtime.

The family moved in to the rented home six weeks ago, having moved from a house in Pontarddulais a few weeks after Chris Davies left the country.

We had a stable and loving relationship and we about to embark on a new life together in the Dutch Antilles

Beverley Payne's partner, Chris Davies

A spokesman for the family of gardener Nicholas Davies said: "Nicholas was a very genuine person who we all loved very much. We devastated by his death."

Neighbours also reported other expensive cars, including a Range Rover and a Chrysler Voyager, were often seen parked at the family home.

'Unanswered questions'

Detective Chief Supt Phillips added: "We are still awaiting the results of further tests. There is still much work to do.

"This has been a terrible tragedy and our sympathies are with all who have been touched by it."

Earlier, he said there were "unanswered questions" as to why Nicholas Davies was in the car, which was registered in the name of Ms Payne's husband, and described his lifestyle as "a matter of concern."

He also praised the three-year-old son as "remarkable" after he alerted the caller to the house.

"At three years of age to have been able to answer the door, to have told this caller what he did, and to have directed operations at that house at that time, what a brave little lad and what a sad passage in his life," he said.

Police have appealed for witnesses to any recent sightings of Ms Payne and Nicholas Davies to telephone the incident room on 01792 456999.