Pensioner, 65, arrested on suspicion of 34-year-old ‘Lady in the Lake’ murder

A pensioner has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the ‘Lady in the Lake’ case of a woman found dead, gagged and dumped in the water 34 years ago. 

Shani Warren’s body was found face-down in about three feet of water in Taplow Lake, Buckinghamshire, on the day after Good Friday in 1987. 

The woman, the daughter of a millionaire, had been gagged with a blue scarf, her hands tied with jump leads and her legs bound with a tow rope. 

A post-mortem examination found no evidence of injury from a struggle and did not indicate sexual assault, reports from the time say.  

Police initially treated Ms Warren’s death as a suicide, despite the woman being found bound and gagged with ligature marks around her neck. 

It was only after a full-scale post-mortem revealed she had drowned that a murder investigation was launched. 

Nobody has been apprehended or charged over her death until now. 

A 65-year-old man was yesterday arrested on suspicion of her murder, Thames Valley Police confirmed.  

A pensioner has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the ‘Lady in the Lake’ case of a woman found dead, gagged and dumped 34 years ago. Shani Warren(pictured)’s body was found submerged in a lake in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, in April 1987

No one has ever been charged with Ms Warren’s death, which was one of the Thames Valley’s most obscure unsolved murders. Pictured: The Lake at Taplow where Ms Warren’s body was discovered

A spokesman said: ‘Officers have arrested a man in connection with a murder that occurred in 1987.

‘The 65-year-old man was arrested this morning and is currently in police custody. He was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Shani Warren, whose body was found in a lake at Taplow in April 1987.’

No other details of the suspect have been given.

Ms Warren, a personal assistant at a company called Micro Scope, vanished on April 17, 1987, after cutting the grass at the Stoke Poges home she shared with two housemates.

She had set off in her car to dispose of the grass cuttings. 

Ms Warren, who was 26 when she was killed, vanished on April 17, 1987, after cutting the grass at the Stoke Poges home bought for her by her parents which she shared with two housemates

Her body was found in the Taplow Lake the following day at 6.30pm by Marjorie Arnold, who was out walking her dog. 

Mrs Arnold’s German Shepherd showed an unusual interest in something in the lake.

When Mrs Arnold investigated, she uncovered Ms Warren’s bound and gagged body lying face-down in the water. 

Prior to the discovery of her body, a lorry driver spotted Ms Warren’s car parked in a lay-by on the A4. 

A reconstruction played on the BBC TV series Crimewatch, showed the vehicle had been left unlocked, with one door slightly open.

Police initially treated Ms Warren’s (above with her father) death as a suicide, despite being found bound and gagged with ligature marks around her neck

It was only after a full-scale post-mortem revealed she had drowned that a murder investigation was launched

Some of Ms Warren’s belongings had been found in the undergrowth by the vehicle, the reconstruction stated. 

An initial police investigation into Ms Warren’s death has been heavily criticised after Detective Superintendent Tony Miller suggested the woman may have bound and gagged herself.

He said it was unclear whether she had been murdered, the Times reported.  

Detective Miller also said Ms Warren had suffered from depression, although her brother Stephen insisted she would not have committed suicide.