79-year-old held 15 hours after park body find

A 79-year-old man from Leicester spent 15 hours in police custody after he and a female companion discovered a body in a city park, prompting a murder investigation that was quickly closed when postmortem results showed the death resulted from natural causes.

Bobby Carmichael, a resident of Beaumont Leys, and a 46-year-old woman from Leicester found the body of a man in his 40s in a bush at Castle Gardens just before 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 7. The woman had entered the park to search for a doll she believed she had lost there the previous evening. While looking, she spotted the body. Mr. Carmichael, who waited in the car, instructed her to call police.

Leicestershire Police launched a murder inquiry, cordoning off the entire park and arresting both individuals on suspicion of murder. Officers later went to Mr. Carmichael's home in Beaumont Leys around 9 p.m., where the pair had returned and were watching television. Police took the woman away first, then detained Mr. Carmichael after placing an officer at his property. The home was also cordoned off.

A postmortem examination the following day, Friday, May 8, determined the man had died from a suspected medical episode. Police...