DETECTIVES were today given extra time to question a man over the shooting of an Oxfordshire couple.

Peter and Gwenda Dixon, of Moorlands Road, in Witney, were found shot dead at a coastal path beauty spot while camping in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in 1989.

Dyfed-Powys Police arrested a 64-year-old man on suspicion of the murders on yesterday. Some newspapers have named a man but police last night refused to comment.

A police spokesman said investigating officers were granted a 12-hour extension by a superintendent to question the man this morning and he remained in custody tonight.

Father-of-two Peter Dixon, 51, was found dead near St Brides Bay with his hands tied behind his back in June 1989, five days after he had gone missing from a campsite.

The body of his wife Gwenda, 52, was discovered beside him with her clothes partially removed.

Both had been blasted with a shotgun and their belongings strewn around the woodland and coastal path.

Mr Dixon’s wallet was missing and £310 was later withdrawn from his account.

A shotgun, which police believed was used in the murders, was found in a lake nine years later.

The 64-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of the murders of Helen and Richard Thomas at Scoveston Manor in December 1985 and a serious sexual assault and attempted robbery in Milford Haven in 1996.

More than 10,000 statements have been taken by police investigating the murder over the past 20 years.