A retired headteacher and his wife were found murdered at their home in south Croydon yesterday.

The bodies of Barry Dighton, 61, and his wife Elizabeth, 60, were found by police at their first-floor maisonette in Campden Road, at lunchtime yesterday following reports of a disturbance.

They had been stabbed to death.

Mr Dighton retired in 2006 as headmaster of Elmhurst School for Boys, South Park Hill Road, which is rated as one of top 20 independent prep schools in the country.

Mrs Dighton was head of Reception at the school and their son Daniel also worked at Elmhurst as a Year 1 teaching assistant.

One parent said: "The family always had a very professional relationship at work and you would not know, unless you knew their surnames, they were family.

"Mr Dighton was the school. When he left I pulled my son from the school. Mr Dighton made the school.

"I knew Danny as a teaching assistant. He was always smiling and used to greet the children as they came in."

Barry Dighton was secretary of the Croydon Schools Cricket Association.

Their home was cordoned off last night as forensics teams worked late into the night.

A 34-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the double murder.

Neighbours yesterday spoke of their shock.

One Campden Road resident said: “It is terrifying to think this all happened here. It’s mainly just old people who live here but there are a few young families. We didn’t know the couple but they seemed like nice people.”

Neighbour Alex Thorne, 33, said: “The police were here all night. When it happened an air ambulance landed in Lloyd’s Park but it was too late to save anyone. This is a friendly neighbourhood.”

Another neighbour said: “We saw ambulances and police cars. We have heard what happened on the radio, it is terrible. South Croydon is meant to be the safe part of Croydon.”

A former Elmhurst pupil Andrew Jones said: “He was a really nice guy, caring and very passionate about teaching the kids.”

They were pronounced dead at the scene.

Post-mortems will be held at Croydon mortuary tomorrow morning and afternoon.

Police are awaiting formal identification from next-of-kin.

Detectives from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command at Sutton, under DI Bob Campany, are leading the inquiry.

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