Cold-case detectives have arrested a man on suspicion of murdering two women more than 30 years ago.

Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce were killed in Tunbridge Wells five months apart in 1987.

Today a 66-year-old suspect from Heathfield in East Sussex was detained in connection with the deaths.

Wendy Knell, who was 25, was discovered dead in her bedsit in Guildford Road on June 23, 1987. She had been sexually assaulted and beaten to death.

Caroline Pierce, 20, was last seen at about midnight on November 24, when she was dropped off by a taxi at her bedsit in Grosvenor Park.

She too was sexually assaulted and brutally murdered.

Her body was found 40 miles away by a farm worker in a field near St Mary in the Marsh, Romney Marsh, on December 15 that year

Both victims had been beaten and strangled and lived alone in basement bedsit flats. They both also worked in Camden Road in Tunbridge Wells.

Two distinctive sets of key rings were stolen from each woman - providing evidence of a potential link between the murders.

Speaking on the 30th anniversary of the murders, Wendy's mother Pam Knell said: "Just before it happened I turned 50 and they all said to me your life begins at 50.

"Then that happened and my life finished as I knew it then."

Tragically, Wendy's father Bill died from cancer in 2017, leaving his wish to see her killer brought to justice unfulfilled. "If he’s not been found by the time I go, she’ll tell me who it was," he had said in 2012.

Speaking to support a renewed appeal to find his daughter's killer he revealed how consultants had said there was no more that could be done to treat his cancer.

He added: "Every day that I wake up is a bonus. But I would really, really like him caught before the end comes, so I know who it was."

Advances in forensic science since the killings subsequently led to the discovery of a full DNA profile believed to belong to the killer.

This allowed detectives investigating the women's deaths to explore further advances around familial DNA in an attempt to identify as suspect.

Families of both victims have been informed of the arrest today and they are being kept updated. Wendy's mother Pam has said she is "dumbfounded" by the news of the potential breakthrough.

The case has remained unsolved and subject to periodic reviews by cold-case detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

Speaking on the 30th anniversary of Wendy's death, Kent Police detective Rob Vinson said: "She was 25, she had her whole life ahead of her and that was brutally taken away from her on that day. Five months later Caroline Pierce, who was only 20 was also attacked and murdered in Tunbridge Wells.

"Unless you have been through something similar I don't think anyone can imagine the sheer horror that those families have been through all these years.

"We will not rest until we bring to justice the person or persons responsible for these murders."

In 2007, former Det Supt Dave Stevens - who led the original investigation - came out of retirement to help the small team of officers still working on the case.

A 20th anniversary appeal on the BBC Crimewatch UK television programme led to more than 40 calls, with police saying most "were putting forward names that may or may not be involved in our investigation."

Read more: All the latest news from Tunbridge Wells