Neighbours alerted Police in Semple search

A man is being questioned on suspicion of murder after the remains of a veteran police officer were found on a housing estate. The 49-year-old suspect was arrested at a property in Southwark, south London, on Thursday where the remains of PC Gordon Semple, 59, were also found. The officer of 30 years was last seen at 3pm on Friday on CCTV near London Bridge, a short distance from the property on the Peabody Estate. Officers are continuing a "vital search for evidence" at the scene which will take some time to complete, Scotland Yard said. The man arrested was at the flat in Block E where the remains were discovered. A resident on the estate had noted that scented candles were outside his door to disguise a smell. Heather Brown, who lives in the block next door, said her neighbour had noticed a "terrible smell" She said the neighbour and his brother had confronted the owner of the flat after becoming aware of the stench. The 55-year-old said: "They just smelled this horrible smell" "The candles had been outside for a few days, he had been putting candles outside his door for the smell" "He just knocked on the door, and he said he was just cooking" The neighbour then phoned the police, she said. Ms Brown, who has lived on the estate for 30 years, said the housing block was a "very quiet place" where there were "never any problems". The five-storey buildings are dwarfed by the overlooking Shard. Ms Brown said she did not know who it was that had been arrested but that the block in which he lived was full of short-let tenants. Police had sealed off all the rubbish chutes in the estate, she added. Metropolitan Police Commander Alison Newcomb said: "This is a very sad day for Gordon's colleagues. There are many officers who have served with Gordon in London during his 30-year career who will acutely feel his loss"

PC Semple left his home in Greenhithe, Dartford, to go to work in Westminster on Friday, and on that same day visited the Shard in Southwark. He left there at 12.30pm and was last seen on CCTV about two and a half hours later. Ms Newcomb, commander of the territorial policing unit, said: "Yesterday afternoon we were called by a member of the public to an address on the Peabody Estate, Southwark Street" The decomposed remains were discovered after a neighbour alerted Scotland Yard to a "smell of death" coming from a housing estate flat. The officer's brother, Ronnie Semple, said in a statement that his death had left the world of his family and his partner Gary "a worse place".

• Local News