Police dig up tycoon's garden as he is charged with murder of wife who vanished nine years ago

Officers today  were digging up the garden of Martin Hale, 51, a fruit and vegetable wholesaler, after wife Maureen vanished.

Police arrested Mr Hale at his £1million home in Thames Ditton, Surrey this afternoon.

The breakthrough in the case of Maureen Hale, who vanished in June 1999, is believed to be linked to an alleged mortgage fraud.

Happy couple: Martin and Maureen Hale on their wedding day in the early 1980s. Mrs Hale went missing from their £1m home in 1999

Police taped off areas of Hale's garden and began digging soon after his arrest

A Met Police spokesman said: 'Martin Hale, 51, of Ember Court Road, Thames Ditton, Surrey, has today been charged with the murder of Maureen Hale on or around June 22 1999.

'He has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Kingston Magistrates' Court on June 19.'

It is thought Mr Hale re-mortgaged their home, filling out an application form using his wife's name.

The company director was questioned on suspicion of murder and mortgage fraud.

He has always claimed his wife walked out of the family home at 10pm on 22 June 1999 without saying where she was going or when she would be back.

Mrs Hale, who was 42, has not been seen since and her bank account and passport have not been used.

Police have long suspected the mother of five was murdered.

Vanished: Police always said Mrs Hale's disappearance was totally out of character. Her husband was initially arrested in 1999 but released

Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton, who is leading the investigation, said: 'Maureen Hale disappeared very suddenly nine years ago. Since that time there has been no contact with her family or any of her friends.

'Such a disappearance was entirely out of character for her, especially as she left behind four young children at home.

'We have always thought it was hard to imagine she would simply walk out and leave them without a word.'

Accused: Millionaire businessman Mr Hale has been charged with murder

One line of investigation centred on a statement from the manager of a pet crematorium, who said a member of the public asked about hiring it around the time of Mrs Hale's disappearance.

She had just come back from holiday in Greece and had made plans to take her children to a concert.

But police said Mrs Hale and her husband had been having relationship troubles and she had booked an appointment to see a divorce solicitor, due to take place two days after she vanished.

Mr Hale, who runs Southall-based fruit wholesaler Hales & Co, was initially arrested in July 1999 in connection with his wife's disappearance but was released without charge.

Police conducted searches of open land in the Thames Ditton area but failed to shed any light on her whereabouts.

A campaign for information spread to the television with renewed appeals on each anniversary of her disappearance but these also produced no significant new leads.

Officers taped off the family's-large detached home at around 7pm yesterday.

A police liaison officer at the house said members of the family would not be speaking to the media.

Neighbours in Ember Court Drive said there had always been 'rumours' about the disappearance of Mr Hale's wife.

In 2000, on the anniversary of Mrs Hale's disappearance, her eldest child Nathan, who was then 23, said: 'It's been hard for all of us. My brothers and sisters have been affected the most because they are younger.

'You try to get on with your life but the questions about what happened to mum are always in the back of your mind.

'It's impossible to get away from what's happened.'

Maureen's son Nathan was interviewed and pictured at the family home one year after her disappearance which he said 'was completely out of character'

In a later appeal for information, Mrs Hale's older sister Jackie West said she was not the sort of person to have enemies.

She said: 'I used to call her mother hen because she used to fuss over the children. I find it hard to believe that she is still alive and has not contacted her children at all.

'She is somebody who would always talk to others. If she needed to, she would go to others for help.'