Woman arrested on suspicion of murder after man in his 60s ‘was killed and lay dead in his home for a week’

A WOMAN has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man in his 60s was found dead at his home.

Police fear William McNicholl, 63, lay dead at the property in Ipswich for a week before the grim discovery at 6am on New Year's Day.

Suffolk Police arrested a suspect in her 50s on Saturday and she remains in custody after questioning.

A Home Office postmortem on January 4 found Mr McNicholl - who lived alone - had potentially died from a single stab wound, as well as head injuries.

Police had been called to the address in Hawthorn Drive on January 1 where his body was found.

Detectives believe he likely died on Christmas Day.

The force continues to appeal for witnesses and anyone with any information or who saw any suspicious activity near the address between Tuesday, December 24 and Wednesday, January 1, is asked to call 101.

Family of the victim - known as Billy and Electric Bill - described him as a "larger than life character with a heart of gold".

They remembered him as a "cheeky geeza with a fun sense of humour".

"Love him or hate him, the man with many names who meant lots of different things to different people, was cool, clever and eccentric," his family said.

"His friends, five nieces and sister remember him as kind and generous, even when he didn't have much himself – he was a larger than life character with a heart of gold.

"We have many fond memories of him riding his Harley-Davidson, listening to Iron Maiden and discussing politics and theology, and of holidays in the Yorkshire dales."

They added that his "priority" was his dogs, including a Staffordshire Bull Terrier called Leo, who is now being looked after by his family.

Neighbour Phillip Shaw described Mr McNicholl as "a very nice guy, very friendly, very talkative".