Emneth: Police investigate shooting at Banyer Hall

Investigations were still under way at Banyer Hall, on the outskirts of Emneth on Wednesday, as police named the dead woman as Lesley Page.

A man in his 60s was questioned over the death of Mrs Page, who was 65 years old, before being released under investigation on Wednesday afternoon. 

Police tape cordoning off part of the grounds at Banyer Hall (Image: Chris Bishop)Detectives have cordoned off parts of the grounds of the 17th Century property on Lady's Drove.

On Wednesday, officers were also flying a drone over the hall and its leafy gardens, where the body of Mrs Page was found on Monday morning.

Norfolk police said a post mortem had confirmed she had died from gunshot wounds to the torso.

Lesley Page's body was found in the grounds of Banyer Hall, at Emneth (Image: Chris Bishop)Former bank worker Mrs Page is believed to have lived in the property since she bought it with her husband Stephen for £600,000 in 2017, when the couple moved to Norfolk from Essex.

Friend Brian Chilvers, 76, who has a builder's yard next to the Pages' property, said they seemed "the perfect couple".

"They were two perfectly nice people," he told one website. 

"Obviously, I have known them since they came down here and they were both lovely people. As most people from London wish to move down here, so did they. They came down for the countryside.

"It's just a nice place to come to, Banyer Hall. It's a beautiful place.

The Pages moved to Emneth from Brentwood, in Essex, in 2017 (Image: Chris Bishop)"They did it all up after they came here. They had the pond done."

The Pages, who are not believed to have had children, were keen anglers and motorcyclists.

Just over a mile away in the centre of the village, close to the Norfolk/Cambridgeshire border, shopkeeper Lax Vicky, runs the Emneth Convenience Store on Gaultree Square.

He said police had visited the premises to ask him for CCTV footage but had not told him what had happened.

Police at Banyer Hall, where a woman died from gunshot wounds (Image: Chris Bishop)Another woman at the shop said she had heard from other customers that there had been a shooting at the hall.

Mr Vicky said: "People are quite upset, people are concerned about the village.

"When we came here it was really peaceful but now we see a few issues here."

Banyer Hall stands on a rural lane, on the outskirts of Emneth (Image: Chris Bishop)Minutes on the parish council noticeboard said the bowls club needed a new mower, while residents were concerned about speeding drivers on Outwell Road.

Mr Vicky said there had also been problems with anti-social behaviour and youths fighting in the village.

More than 20 years ago, Emneth was headline news after farmer Tony Martin, who lives on the outskirts of the village, shot two burglars, killing one and wounding the other. 

A police drone officer in a pumpkin field near Banyer Hall (Image: Chris Bishop)Down the leafy lane which leads to the hall, which is the last house on Lady's Drove before Emneth gives way to open fields, drivers slowed down and peered into the gravel driveway filled with police vehicles.

Officers were standing guard outside the house, which stands behind high brick walls with its name picked out on a wooden sign.

Behind the two-storey brick property, a forensic tent had been erected next to a conservatory in the grounds.

The house name sign at Banyer Hall (Image: Chris Bishop)Blue and white police scenes of crime tape stretched between the tall trees which screen them from the road and nearby fields.

Before the Pages bought the house, it had been featured on the BBC's Escape to the Country programme, where it was shown to a couple of retired vicars.

While they were attracted by the fact a previous parish vicar was the Rev Wilbert Awdry, who wrote some of his Thomas the Tank Engine stories whilst living in the village in the 1950s and 60s, they chose not to buy it.