The husband of an Emmy award-winning make-up artist has been charged with her murder.

Sussex Police charged David Chenery-Wickens, 51, from Duddleswell, East Sussex, with murder after Diane Chenery-Wickens’s remains were found on Thursday morning. He will appear at Hastings Magistrates Court this morning.

Mrs Chenery-Wickens’s body was found in the village of Little Horsted, near Uckfield, East Sussex, by a woman walking her dog about eight miles from the couple’s country home.

Hours later Mr Chenery-Wickens was rearrested in connection with her disappearance. He had previously been arrested on suspicion of her murder and had his bail extended to May 30, pending further inquiries.

A Sussex Police spokesman said that a post-mortem examination was carried out last night and dental records were used to identify the body. He added that the family of Mrs Chenery-Wickens, 48, have been informed that the decomposed body had been identified. The cause of death was yet to be established.

Mrs Chenery-Wickens, who worked on shows including Dead Ringers, was reported missing by her husband on January 24 after she failed to attend a meeting at the BBC in London.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Johns appealed for anyone to contact police who may have seen anything suspicious since January around the lane where the body was found.

Speaking to reporters in February, Mrs Chenery-Wickens’s brother Russell Wickens, a consultant, said that the family were bracing themselves for the worst. He described his sister as a “much-loved and likeable” person who would not want to worry her family.

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