EastEnders: Police arrest Ghananian who killed two kids, wife in London

The partner of a former EastEnders actress who was murdered alongside her two young sons has been arrested in Ghana.

Arthur Simpson-Ken

Arthur Simpson-Kent, 48, was detained earlier, two days after the Ghanaian police began their hunt for him.

The bodies of Sian Blake, 43, Zachary, eight, and Amon, four, were discovered in the garden of their London home on Tuesday.

The family had been reported missing on 16 December.

The Met Police said it had been “made aware of an arrest in Ghana” and was “working alongside the Ghanaian authorities but is not in a position to discuss further at this time”.

BBC correspondent Alastair Leithead, who is in Ghana, said Mr Simpson-Kent was arrested in a coastal area popular with tourists.

“Around 10 police officers went down to the beach where he was spotted hiding amongst some rocks and the police, who were all armed, called out to him,” he said.

“He gave himself up and they found that he had a knife on him, but he didn’t use it in a threatening way.

“He was then taken to a nearby village where police thanked the people who had informed them he was in this area.”

Mr Leithead said the arrest involved Met and Ghanaian Police as well as officers from Interpol.

Mr Simpson-Kent, the children’s father, arrived in Ghana on 19 December, with the country’s police force becoming involved in the hunt for him on Thursday.

Ghanaian Police had initially been sent to the Cape Coast in the south of the country – where the extended Simpson family is from – as well as to other parts of the Atlantic shoreline.

Ms Blake and the couple’s sons had not been seen at their south-east London home since 13 December and a missing persons inquiry launched on 16 December, after the NSPCC had raised concerns about their welfare.

Three days later, police spoke to her partner, the children’s father Arthur Simpson-Kent, 48, at the family’s home in Erith, Kent, and he has since disappeared. Police have refused to clarify why they spoke to Mr Simpson-Kent.

A murder investigation was launched after the bodies were discovered and forensic teams were seen searching the property. Neighbours said police had been at the house for several days.

Questions are being asked as to why officers missed three bodies during their 20-day search for the mother-of-two.

 

EastEnders: Police arrest Ghananian who killed two kids, wife in London