A 24-year-old man was on Saturday arrested in connection with the murder of Avtar Singh-Kolar and his wife Carole in their Birmingham home earlier this week, as post-mortem tests confirmed that they died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and that both had been struck a number of times.
The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was arrested at a house in Birmingham and was being questioned.
Police suspect that the couple may have been victims of a botched burglary after it emerged that there had been a sharp increase in “nasty” burglaries in the area.
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They have announced a reward of up to £10,000 for information that could help in tracking down the killers.
“Horrendous attack”
Detective Superintendent Richard Baker, leading the investigation, described it as “a horrendous attack.”
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“We continue to follow a number of lines of enquiry and we thank those who have called us so far. We encourage anyone with information to speak to us no matter how insignificant they feel the detail is,” he said.
Police played down speculation that it was a revenge attack by someone with a grievance against the murdered couple's son, Jason, a serving police officer who discovered his parents' bodies on Wednesday morning when he went round to their house after failing to contact them on the phone.
Mr. Baker said that at the moment there was “nothing to suggest at all” that Jason's job was relevant to the murder.
Kolar (62) and Carole (58) had been married for 40 years and lived in the Handsworth Wood area for most of their lives. They are survived by four children and eight grandchildren.
The couple's daughter Michelle Kirwan (39) said her parents were “the sweetest and kindest people I have ever met.”
“Our hearts have been broken forever,” she said.