Police name one of victims in Burnley double murder probe

James Atkinson (55) lived at the address in Waddington Avenue where his body was found on Tuesday afternoon.

The second body has still not been officially identified.

Det. Supt Neil Hunter, from the Force Major Investigation Team, said: “We are at the very early stages of a major inquiry into the suspicious death of two men.

“I am keen to hear from people who knew Mr Atkinson and may have been in contact with him over the past few days. I need to build up a picture of events leading up to yesterday afternoon to establish exactly what happened.

“The motive for this offence is still unclear. There was no forced entry to the property and therefore we cannot rule out the offenders were known to the victims. They may have been in the property legitimately before the attack occurred.

“We have a large team of dedicated officers and staff working on investigating and detecting this crime and minute by minute the picture is becoming clearer.

“If anybody has any information they believe might assist this inquiry then I would ask them to contact Burnley police on 01282 425001 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”