Two men are arrested after police discover female human remains in garden 12 years after mother-of-three went missing

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Police investigating the disappearance of a woman more than 12 years ago have discovered human remains in a garden.

Natalia Doherty, 50, was last seen in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on April 15, 2003.

Officers conducted a search of a garden in Luton, Bedfordshire, as part of their investigation and have found skeletal remains.

Natalia Doherty was living in Eastbourne when she disappeared, although she may have travelled to Luton

Human remains, believed to be those of a woman, have now been found in the garden of this property

Early indications are that the remains are female, although they have not yet been formally identified.

Two men aged 66 and 33, both from Luton, have been arrested on suspicion of murder and remain in police custody.

The 66-year-old was previously held on suspicion of assisting an offender and preventing a lawful burial, Bedfordshire Police said.

A 71-year-old man from Port Glasgow, Scotland, remains on bail on suspicion of assisting an offender and preventing a lawful burial.

Ms Doherty’s family have been informed of the discovery of the remains, police said.

She had been living in Eastbourne at the time of her disappearance but was known to have travelled to stay with her ex-husband Gerald Doherty in the Regents Arms pub in Luton.

Proof of life enquiries have since failed to show any sign she is alive, police said, and an investigation was launched by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit in 2014.

Photos taken before the police search show the Luton property's back garden was stacked high with junk

Police were searching this property and its garden for a number of days before the discovery was made

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