Murdered make-up artist 'adored'

Russell Wickens discribed his brother-in-law as a "predatory charlatan"

When a usually reliable woman went missing it was a shock to her friends and family, but the discovery she had been murdered brought horror.

Diane Chenery-Wickens, an award-winning BBC make-up artist, was killed by her husband David, a spiritualist minister, in January last year.

He was found guilty of murder after a five-week trial at Lewes Crown Court.

After the verdict the family said their "loving sister and devoted daughter" had fallen prey to a "predatory charlatan".

Mrs Chenery-Wickens' brother, Russell Wickens, said: "Diane was a sweet, kind, thoughtful and loving woman. She did nothing to deserve her fate.

"All who knew her talked only of the same fierce love, loyalty and constant kindness that she always demonstrated."

'Truly lovely'

Friends of Mrs Chenery-Wickens, who lived in Duddleswell, East Sussex, immediately described her disappearance as out-of character.

The Bafta-nominated make-up artist worked for more than 20 years on some of television's best-known shows, including The League of Gentleman, Casualty, Pride and Prejudice and Dead Ringers, and had won an Emmy award in 2000 for her work on Arabian Nights.

The body of Mrs Chenery-Wickens was found off a country lane Wife killer was 'compelled to lie'

She was known as a very professional person, who could always be relied on.

Actor Jill Greenacre, who became a close friend of Mrs Chenery-Wickens after they worked together on the Brittas Empire, said she was a "truly lovely person" who was "funny, lively and always had time for everybody".

"We knew that she had problems [with her marriage], but I sincerely believed that all these problems had been overcome and things were good again," she said.

Shortly after her husband of 11 years reported her missing in London on 24 January 2008, Dead Ringers impressionist Jon Culshaw made a televised appeal for help in finding Mrs Chenery-Wickens.

He said her disappearance was "concerning and bewildering" and her family said they were "frantic" with worry.

Forensic evidence

Unless her husband decides to discuss her death, her friends and family will never know how she died.

About 100 officers from Sussex Police investigated the case, but by the time her body was found by a dog walker almost four months later it was too late to establish a cause of death.

She had been hurriedly dumped in woodland off Worth Lane, Little Horsted, near Uckfield, about eight miles from her home, with her boots still with the shoe trees inside left nearby.

Friends said they were 'bewildered' by her disappearance

She was identified by dental records in a post-mortem examination.

Her husband, who had already been arrested and bailed on suspicion of murder, was promptly charged by Sussex Police.

Throughout the investigation, his account of his wife's disappearance contradicted the unfolding evidence, and his story rapidly changed each time new facts were put to him.

The trip the pair had taken to London before she failed to turn up at a BBC meeting had been fabricated, he said, because he had vowed to keep her plan to start a new life abroad a secret.

However, her passport and driving licence were found at her home along with other personal belongings, and blood was found on her wedding and eternity rings.

There was no activity on her mobile phone and her bank accounts were not touched.

The trial revealed Chenery-Wickens' complex tangle of lies and secret lovers.

We still mourn the loss of a loving sister, constant friend and devoted daughter. She cannot be replaced Russell Wickens

But it also added to the confusion in court about Mrs Chenery-Wickens' last days, described by the prosecutor as an attempt to kill her a second time by blackening her name.

Mr Wickens said he hoped the verdict would wipe out the lies that Chenery-Wickens had told about his sister Diane.

He added: "Throughout the past few weeks there have been many untrue and hurtful, shocking things said about Diane.

"We have had to listen to the lies and fabrications of a delusional man.

"Ultimately, he killed her to prevent all of this being discovered and to save himself."

Mr Wickens said: "This should be a day to celebrate and in many ways it is. At least the truth is known now. The letter of the law was applied today, but true justice will never be done.

"Diane is still gone. We still grieve. And we still mourn the loss of a loving sister, constant friend and devoted daughter. She cannot be replaced."