A real murder in Midsomer: Three weeks after the murder of a dog-walking mother, why neighbours in her picturesque village are stunned – special report by ROBERT HARDMAN

When people describe this as ‘Constable Country’, it’s not an empty phrase here in the Suffolk village of Brantham. John Constable not only painted the altarpiece for St Michael’s Church; he married the vicar’s daughter and produced his most famous work, The Hay Wain, at Flatford Mill, an hour’s walk up the River Stour.

But Constable has been talked about little in recent weeks. Visitors are now hinting at another cultural reference point. And it’s one that’s infuriating Brantham residents.

“We are not Midsomer. What happened here is completely outside our experience,” says district councillor Alastair McCraw, who rejects any comparison with the equally picturesque but serially murderous setting of ITV’s drama Midsomer Murders.

Yes, Brantham is beautiful and rural (I would even go so far as to say ‘sleepy’, although that may be due to the blazing heat when I arrived). But it remains utterly bewildered and appalled by the kind of crime that has recently thrust it into the headlines.

“The last murder here was over 150 years ago and people were still talking about it,” McCraw said. “We are now a community united in compassion for a family who lost a beloved mother and grandmother.”

Anita Rose, 57, was murdered near St Michael’s Church, Brantham. She died of ‘head and facial injuries’ in hospital

It is now almost four weeks since Anita Rose, 57, left at 5am to take her springer spaniel, Bruce, for his morning walk. She never returned. An hour and a half later she was found unconscious by a cyclist on a public footpath near Rectory Lane (which leads to the church where Constable painted Christ and the Children). Bruce, unharmed, had been loyally by his mistress’s side.

By evening, police confirmed they were investigating “attempted murder.” Tragically, four days later, that was upgraded to “murder” after Ms. Rose died in hospital from “head and facial injuries.” Yet, after three arrests and more than 630 police interviews, the residents of Brantham – population 3,500 – remain as bewildered and concerned as ever.

There is not even an official cause of death yet, as the autopsy report is still inconclusive, pending ‘further tests’. Until then, no funeral can take place and the grieving family is left in the dark.

Two men, a 45-year-old from Ipswich and a 20-year-old from the village itself, have been arrested on suspicion of murder. Both have been released on bail on condition that the younger man does not return to Brantham or neighbouring Manningtree until a further hearing in October.

A 37-year-old woman was also released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of dealing in stolen goods. Local residents said police experts in white overalls turned a house near the church upside down. Police also used phone records to establish and publish the route of Anita’s last walk.

The hunt continues for her missing pink waterproof jacket, with new photos released yesterday, as well as an image of her black wallet-style phone case featuring a gold crown and studs.

Suffolk police are ‘urging people to please not speculate about the incident’, but you can hardly blame the people of Brantham for doing so.

There were initial concerns that poor Anita could be used as some kind of catalyst for mob violence, as happened after those horrific murders in Southport five days after her death. Social media trolls wasted no time in stirring things up.

Some, including far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, spread rumours that Anita had been murdered by two Somali migrants. These unsubstantiated lies led to a swift and unusual intervention by the police, who declared such talk to be ‘a dangerous piece of disinformation’.

Suffolk was spared further civil unrest, while the national media focused on violence elsewhere.

Yet that hasn’t stopped more genuine, legitimate questions from Brantham residents. As Councilman McCraw notes, “People still need to walk their dogs.” But where? And when? It also raises the broader question of how a previously happy and harmonious community can move forward and return to “business as usual” when there is no prospect of any kind of closure, especially not for Anita’s family.

For now it is clear that, while there is nothing resembling panic in these parts, people are quietly changing their ways. There is certainly less foot traffic along the tracks and bridleways, both among locals and people from miles around for whom the paths between the village, the Bull at Brantham pub and the Stour estuary have long been a popular circuit.

Anita had left home at 5am at sunrise to take her English Springer Spaniel Bruce for his morning walk

Robert Hardman visits the spot where Anita was found unconscious by a cyclist on a public footpath at Rectory Lane

“Normally you’d see a lot of walkers here, certainly more than just local dog owners,” says Reverend Chris Willis, the rector of St Michael’s. “But I’ve noticed that there are fewer people walking now and a lot more of them are in pairs.”

But Anita’s death has underlined the strength of the community spirit. “We are a quiet, rural community, but not a community of strangers,” he adds. Although he did not know Anita, who is understood to have moved to the village a few years ago with her partner Richard and one of her six children, he says many people have come to the church to “reflect” and light a candle in her memory.

I walk down Rectory Lane from the church, which gradually changes from road to track to footpath as the tree canopy gives way to open fields. The peace is broken only by the occasional honking of a train on the main line from London to Norwich. A small cluster of flowers and cards rest against a fence.

“We will miss you on our morning walks,” reads a card signed “Honey and Holly.” One of the two is presumably the golden labrador in the attached photo. The connection to the dog here runs deep.

Over the course of a few hours on these trails, I meet only a handful of people, and they’re all here with dogs. Deanna and Mark Pyke, both retired, have driven up from Ipswich to walk their Chihuahuas. “I like the views and he likes the trains,” Deanna jokes, adding that she wouldn’t come here alone again.

Eventually I reach the spot where Anita was found. The police report describes it matter-of-factly as ‘next to the sewers and the railway line’. It sounds like an ugly industrial black spot, which it isn’t. However, it is in a leafy dip in the path leading to the river.

The railway embankment that runs on top of it is so steep that a train passenger would have difficulty looking down from it. It is also not visible from the surrounding fields. Only the unoccupied sewage treatment plant has a view. If someone were to lurk for whatever reason, this would be as good a spot as any.

Further up the hill the path crosses a stile and the main line. Walkers have to look left and right and move quickly along the tracks. Hence all the honking of train horns. This is an important part of the route along the north bank of the Stour. The police have also issued appeals for information at all local railway stations, in case an early morning commuter has noticed anything strange.

After an hour of walking I meet a gentleman who doesn’t want to give me his name (he’s a civil servant who’s not working) who is walking his two labradors. ‘You try to keep things in perspective and remember that this is a peaceful place with all the clichés about village life, you know, a sleepy place where you can leave your keys in the car or leave the house unlocked and so on,’ he says.

“But then you realize you just want to be careful. So my wife or daughter would normally walk the dog, but now I just say, ‘I’ll do it.'”

Like many around here, it has not escaped his notice that both murder suspects have been released on bail and that the results of the autopsy are still pending. All of which reinforces the general feeling that the trail has finally gone cold.

Suffolk Police simply point out that ‘where bail is imposed it may be granted with restrictions where proportionate and necessary’ and that ‘the status of a person in an investigation may change as the case develops’.

But everyone I meet seems to have a fair amount of sympathy for the police. There is no sense that the police are taking their eyes off this particular ball.

On the other side of the village I pop into the leisure centre, home to ‘The Imps’, Brantham Athletic Football Club. General manager Tony Hall tells me that the police are a regular presence. ‘It’s reassuring to see them,’ he says, ‘but you do see a lot more people walking around in pairs and threes now.’

Later I bump into accountant Lauren Groves, born and raised in Brantham. She has finally started walking her dog Paddy down Rectory Lane again, for the first time since Anita’s death. ‘You get to the point where you think, ‘Am I never going to walk this route again?’

‘I didn’t know Anita by name and I don’t think she lived in the area that long. But I saw her a lot on her walks and she was always very friendly, a very sweet lady. She often walked her dog, maybe three times a day for two hours at a time. My mother often stopped to talk to her. They had a good chat a few days before Anita died and she was very happy and cheerful.’ All of which makes this terrible story even more mysterious and strange.

Brantham’s two pubs are closed today. But at the waterfront café in Constable Park, next to the Stour, my waitress, Remi, tries to keep things in perspective. ‘You have to hope this was just a tragic event,’ she says. ‘I used to live in Kilburn in north London. I’d say I still feel a lot safer here.’