Body found after woman attacked

A workman found the beaten woman in her home

A man was found dead after an attack which has left a woman fighting for her life with critical head injuries.

Joanne Pickering, 32, was struck with what police say was a blunt instrument at her home in Greycoats, Shortstown near Bedford on Friday.

The mother-of-one, who works as a nursery nurse, is being treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

Later on Friday a farmer discovered the body of a 39-year-old man in a car near a gravel pit in the nearby village of Cople, Bedfordshire.

Joanne Pickering's seven-year-old son Jacob was not in the house at the time of the attack.

She was found by a workman.

Bedfordshire police are linking the two incidents.

They say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack.

Toxicology tests are being carried out on the man's body after a post-mortem examionation on Saturday proved inconclusive.