{"id":209882,"date":"2025-10-19T00:07:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T00:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209882\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T00:07:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T00:07:17","slug":"pictured-company-boss-51-found-murdered-in-his-own-home-two-weeks-after-his-wife-died-of-cancer-as-man-31-is-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209882\/","title":{"rendered":"Pictured: Company boss, 51, found ‘murdered’ in his own home two weeks after his wife died of cancer – as man, 31, is arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"

A ‘charming’ company boss was found murdered in his home just a fortnight after losing his wife to cancer<\/a> – with the man suspected of killing him now fighting for his life in hospital under police guard.<\/p>\n

Nigel Key, 51, who ran a construction consultancy firm with his late wife Sheila, was found dead at the home they shared with her son in Totton, Hampshire, on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Mrs Key died on October 2 following a short battle with cancer, only two months after her diagnosis, with her husband saying her death had left ‘an enormous hole in the world and our hearts.’<\/p>\n

A 31-year-old man from Totton was arrested on suspicion of murder after being found with serious injuries at the scene.<\/p>\n

Hampshire Police said he was taken to hospital for treatment and is expected to be in custody soon.<\/p>\n

Forensics officers were seen combing the property on Friday, with a police cordon still in place along the leafy cul-de-sac as detectives continued their investigation.<\/p>\n

Shocked neighbours said Mr Key was a ‘charming’ and ‘friendly’ man who always had time for others and played a big part in community life.<\/p>\n

Ian Roberts, 51, said he would often say hello to the Keys, as fellow dog owners: ‘All I can say is they were a very nice couple.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Nigel <\/p>\n

Nigel Key (left), 51, who ran a construction consultancy firm with his late wife Sheila (right), was found dead at the home they shared with her son in Totton, Hampshire, on Thursday afternoon\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Mrs <\/p>\n

Mrs Key (pictured) died on October 2 following a short battle with cancer, only two months after her diagnosis\u00a0<\/p>\n

And Tina Veal, 65, said the couple, who she did not know by name, had been renting their home for five to ten years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The supermarket worker said Mr Key, who she dubbed ‘pleasant’, was known for decorating his house every Christmas, with an inflatable Santa Claus outside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said she often greeted the Keys out and about: ‘I just said hello and had a conversation with them when I saw them out with the dog.<\/p>\n

‘They had a chocolate Labrador. I noticed when the police came up on Thursday, they took the dog away.’<\/p>\n

Ms Veal described the commotion at the house on Thursday as ‘crazy’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their remarks come just after Mr Key paid a tribute of his own, to his wife, announcing her death on social media with ‘unbelievable sadness’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He wrote only last week:\u00a0‘Despite a valiant battle with intensive radiotherapy and chemotherapy, no one was expecting it to take her so soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘She was admitted to hospital in the early hours with breathing difficulties and passed mid morning.<\/p>\n

‘I would love to tell you all individually so I could share your memories of her but it is just not possible. For me, being my wife says everything that needs to be said.<\/p>\n

\"Mr <\/p>\n

Mr Key paid tribute to his wife (pictured) on social media just last week, announcing her death with ‘unbelievable sadness’\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘She was an amazing wife, mum and nan.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Keys were co-directors of S&N Management Services, which consulted on project management, quantity surveying and health and safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It drew on Mr Key’s two decades of engineering experience and his wife’s eight years as a qualified and registered quantity surveyor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Hampshire Police spokesperson said: ‘We were called at 1.32pm on Thursday 16 October to a report that a man had been seriously assaulted at an address on Matley Gardens, Totton.<\/p>\n

‘Officers were quickly on the scene, along with our South Central Ambulance Service partners.<\/p>\n

‘A 51-year-old man from Totton was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene. His family has been notified and is being supported by specialist officers.<\/p>\n

‘A 31-year-old man from Totton has been arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to hospital for medical treatment, he is expected to enter custody in due course.<\/p>\n

‘Detectives remain at the scene as our investigation and enquiries continue to establish what happened.<\/p>\n

‘Anyone with any concerns or information can speak to one of our uniformed Neighbourhood Policing Team patrols in the area.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A ‘charming’ company boss was found murdered in his home just a fortnight after losing his wife to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[97,59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-209882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-dailymail","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}