AN MP has called for 'justice to be served' after the death of a Kendal couple was highlighted in an explosive report suggesting they may have been victims of a serial killer.

Tim Farron was speaking after a re-examination of several murder-suicides in the region raised the possibility that the cases were likely to have been double murders. Stanley and Peggy Wilson were found dead in their home in 2011.

The February 2011 deaths of the Wilsons had been officially recorded as a murder-suicide when the county coroner analysed the events surrounding the the pair’s death that year.

However, police forces across the North West are now reviewing claims that a serial murderer may have been behind the deaths of Mr and Mrs Wilson, as well as the apparent murder-suicides of four other elderly couples in the region.

Commenting this week, Westmorland and Lonsdale MP, Tim Farron, said: “This will be heartbreaking for the families.

“Not only are they seeing the tragic deaths of their loved ones raked up again but the disturbing news that the deaths may have had a more sinister cause. My thoughts are with them at this time.

"If these suspicions are true, then it’s very alarming that the killer could still be out there. The person or persons behind these despicable acts must be brought to justice.

“It’s important to keep cold cases under review and I want to thank Cheshire Police and Cumbria Police for the work they have been doing on this.

“Even if justice is done decades later, it’s still crucially important that it is served.”

Pensioners across Cumbria are being warned not to panic, as fears grow that one individual may have been behind the brutal murder of as many as 10 elderly people across the North West.

This reconsideration of the deaths - which includes other previously-closed cases in Didsbury and Davyhulme, Greater Manchester, as well as two 1990s fatalities in the affluent Cheshire village of Wilmslow - comes after new doubts were brought to the attention of regional authorities by the police’s senior coroner’s officer in Cheshire, Stephanie Davies.

The revelations came to light in a Sunday Times article last weekend.

Following the publication of the article, Detective Chief Superintendent of Cumbria Police, Dean Holden, commented that when new information comes to light it will be reviewed.

He said: “Cumbria Constabulary is aware of this report and will review it upon its receipt.

“When any new information is made available to the Constabulary in any case, the information is subject to review and action taken where it is appropriate.”

“I’ve been in Cumbria three years and I’m pretty confident we haven’t got a lot of undetected double homicides in old people in Cumbria.

“If there is a serial killer on the loose he’s gone really quiet because we haven’t had one since 2011.”

Using modern techniques, Ms Davies produced a 197-page report raising concerns that the two suspected double murders in Wilmslow, Cheshire, could have been the work of an unknown offender, sparking the investigation which has alerted Greater Manchester and Cumbria Constabulary.

Cumbria Police say they have been notified of the 179-page report which calls on the National Crime Agency and Interpol to review cases in Britain and Europe to determine whether there are more related murders.

“This individual will not stop killing until someone or something stops him,” the report is quoted as saying.

A county council spokesperson for the coroner’s office said this week: “HM Senior Coroner for Cumbria is aware of the recent press article concerning the deaths in 2011 of Mr and Mrs Wilson, and is liaising with Cumbria Constabulary who are currently reviewing the matter.”

The county council confirmed that the coroner team that examined the case in 2011 has since changed.