THE funeral is due to take place tomorrow of former Devizes police officer Roy Clarke and his wife Joan, who were found murdered at their Melksham home on December 7.

West Wiltshire Crematorium at Semington is expected to be packed with mourners and well wishers. The couple were highly regarded in both Devizes and Melksham.

A spokesman for funeral directors CS Bowyer, based in Bradford on Avon, said the Clarke family is hoping to keep the funeral a low-key affair.

They have not asked mourners to wear any particular kind of clothing, though donations to Cancer Research UK can be made in lieu of flowers.

As a police officer, Mr Clarke served at Swindon and Devizes police stations and also worked in the control room at police headquarters in London Road, Devizes.

Mrs Clarke, 55, was formerly an auxilliary nurse at Melksham Hospital and had retired as a registered child minder. Mr Clarke still worked as a driver and security guard at Somerfield in Melksham.

The Clarkes' 20-year-old son Michael has been charged with their murder. He was remanded in custody at Bristol Crown Court on December 21 until a hearing on February 25.

Clarke, a management trainee for HSBC bank, is a former pupil of George Ward School, Melksham, and is keen on martial arts.

The police investigation is continuing, and they have renewed their appeal for the murder weapon.

Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Howlett, who is leading the investigation, said: "We are still looking for the murder weapon and again anyone finding or being aware of the location of any bladed weapon or indeed anything likely to be connected with this investigation should contact us."

An inquest into the deaths opened at Salisbury on December 22 and Wiltshire coroner David Masters accepted a post mortem report which found the cause of death to be multiple incised wounds.

The couple's bodies were found at their home in Berryfield Park, Melksham, in the early hours of December 7 by their son, Michael.

Michael Clarke called the police to the house, claiming he had just returned from a rock concert in London to find his parents' bodies.

Initially two men were arrested and released without charge. Then, ten days later, police charged Michael Clarke with his parents' murder.

Milroy Clarke, 70, known as Roy, or Nobby to his colleagues, was well known in Devizes, first as a police constable and then, after his retirement from the force, as a senior parking attendant for Kennet District Council.

He and his first wife lived in Roundway Park and he had a sideline in collecting fallen timber at Leipzig Plantation on Roundway Down and selling it for firewood.

With his military bearing and immaculate turnout he was a familiar figure on the streets of the town. He was always willing to help out a motorist who had lost his keys and, on one occasion, administered resuscitation to someone who had suffered a heart attack in the middle of a town car park.

But he will be forever remembered for booking a box of cauliflowers owned by a market trader, although he always maintained he had booked the trader's vehicle not the vegetables.

Mr Clarke had a son and daughter, Andrew and Sarah, from his previous marriage.