A police investigation has been launched into the death of a former Wharfedale Hospital surgeon.

Sixty eight year old Anthony Owen was found lying unconscious in the road beside his car, 20 yards from his home in the village of Hale, in Widnes, Cheshire, on Sunday, March 11.

The retired cancer specialist, who had worked at Wharfedale Hospital in Otley for more than 20 years until his retirement in 2009, had suffered a serious head injury, and died in hospital six days later.

Witnesses reported seeing three teenagers cycling away from the area on BMX style bikes.

Detectives arrested a 14, 16 and 17 year old, all from Widnes, on Tuesday, March 20 on suspicion of murder. They remain in custody.

A spokesman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust said Mr Owen had already been working at what was then Wharfedale General Hospital for some years before he was employed by the Trust, when it took over, in 1990.

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