Police are continuing to investigate two deaths in Oxford in which a man is believed to have murdered his girlfriend then hanged himself.

The couple, who were both believed to be nurses from overseas, were found dead within hours of each other on Sunday. CID believe the two deaths were linked.

Officers have been trying to contact the couple's families. Inquests are expected to be opened later this week.

Officers were called on Sunday at about 8.50am to Southfield Golf Club, east Oxford, where the body of a young man was found hanging from a tree near the third green.

During the afternoon, the body of a woman was found in a room at a small family- run hotel in Oxford, which police have refused to name.

A spokesman for the golf club said the body was found by the first pair of golfers to tee off on Sunday morning.

He said: "Police came out to investigate and they interviewed the two members, and two other members who saw it.

"Somebody rang on a mobile phone and called the police out straight away. They took the body down at about 10am.

"We closed the front nine holes for two to three hours during the morning. They re-opened at about midday."

He said the dead man did not have any connections with the golf club. Police forensics officers cordoned off the area where the body was found.

The dead couple are understood not to have been either students or asylum-seekers. It is not known how the woman was killed.

Acting Det Insp Dermot Norridge, of Oxford CID, said they were carrying out further inquiries and a file was being drawn up to present to the coroner.

Police have not appealed for witnesses or information from the public.