A man was appearing before Didcot magistrates today charged with murdering his wife.

Kenneth Whittaker, 45, was charged yesterday, 24 hours after his wife, Stephanie, 30, was found dead at their home in Blenheim Close, Didcot.

Police cordoned off the detached house and garden after her body was discovered on Saturday.

Neighbours woke to find police carrying out house-to-house inquiries and a uniformed officer on guard at the house.

The front garden and a BMW car, parked in the drive, were hidden from public view by a 6ft tall police screen.

The death shocked neighbours. Moreen Cooper, 70, said: "I'm still shaking," after police called at her house in the course of their door-to-door enquiries.

A man living opposite the Whittakers' house, who declined to be named, said the first he knew of any trouble was when he saw police officers arrive on Saturday morning.

Neighbours said the Whittakers had moved into the close about four years ago and were gradually getting to know people.

The death of a 34-year-old woman found in a car in east Oxford is not being treated as suspicious, police said.

The body of a woman was found in the driver's seat of a G-registered red Maestro parked behind the Falcon Rowing and Canoe Club, off Meadow Lane, Oxford, shortly after 11am on Saturday.

The car park was sealed off for a time while officers examined the vehicle and its contents.

The woman has not been identified.