A man has been charged with the murder of two pensioners in Bethnal Green almost 28 years ago.

Danville Neil is accused of killing 74-year-old Ann Castle and her 71-year-old brother William Bryan in August 1993.

Annie, a retired worker at the former Bethnal Green Hospital, was found dead along with her brother in her second-floor flat at Priam House in Clare Street, behind Cambridge Heath railway station, where she had lived for 46 years.

Neil, 63, from Sandrock Road in Lewisham, south London, appeared in custody at Bromley Magistrates’ Court today (July 7) charged with both murders, and also charged with burglary.

He is next due to appear at the Old Bailey on Friday, July 9.

Neil was arrested last October after existing evidence was re-submitted for further examination. Scotland Yard said investigations are continuing.

A post-mortem examination held at Poplar Mortuary in 1993 gave Ann Castle’s cause of death as ischaemic heart disease. Her brother William also died from ischaemic heart disease, as well as from asphyxia.