Couple found dead in car near Wolverhampton golf course faced serious sex charges

The bodies of Cheyevette Cooke, aged 46, and her 41-year-old husband David were found in the Honda Civic in a car park off Cat and Kittens Lane in Bushbury on March 9 - the day they were due to face the charges in court for the first time.

The hearing before Cannock Magistrates was adjourned for 'non standard reasons' when the pair, who were living on a narrowboat moored at Napton Narrowboats in Pendeford, failed to appear and the matter was remanded until yesterday.

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Initially a warrant was issued for their arrest because of the non-appearance, but that was withdrawn later in the day after the solicitor waiting at court to represent them got a message from his office that a police officer had phoned to say the couple had been in involved in an 'incident'.

The solicitor then tried to call back the police officer and finally made contact after lunch, when he was told the pair had been found dead in a car.

He passed this news on to the magistrates who cancelled the warrant and the case was adjourned until yesterday for further inquiries.

When it was called on yesterday, there was no solicitor representing the defendants in court and Lynne Warrington, prosecuting on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service, told the magistrates: "It has been confirmed that the two defendants are deceased and in those circumstances we wish to withdraw the proceedings."

David Cooke faced 12 charges allegedly committed on various dates between July 2002 and May 2013. They included allegations of rape, sexual assault and other serious sexual offences.

Cheyevette Cooke was accused of two offences allegedly committed on various dates from July 2002 to June 2009. One was of assault while the other charge involved a serious sexual offence.

The bodies of the couple, who had lived in Campion Drive, Featherstone, until moving out around two years ago and setting up home on a narrowboat called Katty Boo, were found in a car close to Wolverhampton's Greenfield Golf Club near the junction of Cat and Kittens Lane and Greenfield Lane on March 9.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman Jamie Arrowsmith, said at the time: "On arrival, crews found two patients, a man and a woman, both of whom were inside a car.

"Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that nothing could be done to save either of them and they were confirmed dead at the scene."

A dog that was also found in the car survived and is now being cared for.

After a post mortem examination had been conducted to establish the cause of death police announced that they were not treating the incident as suspicious and had referred the matter to the Black Country Coroner who will hold an inquest into the matter at a later date.