VILLAGERS in Elvington reacted with astonishment when news of the murder and cannabis trials broke.

Siobhan Lock, who works at Elvington Village Stores, said she was in “utter shock and disbelief”.

She said: “I just cannot believe it. It is such a shock – it is crazy and mad to think that something like that has happened somewhere like here. It is normally so quite and peaceful.

“I remember reading about the cannabis factory and raid when it came out in The Press. I was working that day and it was the talk of the town. Now to think that it has been linked to murder is crazy.”

Tom Fitzpatrick, who runs the stores, said: “We saw that the drugs farm was in Elvington, but nobody in the village knew the men who were running it.

“We knew they were there, and thought they ran a cash and carry, but they kept to themselves.”

Elvington Parish Council chairman Ian Bailey said: “I am completely shocked. I had no idea.

“This is virtually a crime-free village, so people were already shocked to hear about the cannabis farm, and they will be even more shocked to hear there had been a murder in the village.”

Tom Pearcy, owner of York Maze near Elvington, said it was the kind of crime one would expect in London or Manchester, rather than York.

He said: “It is shocking and surprising what can happen on your doorstep without you knowing. It is my neck of the woods and you just have no idea that this sort of thing has gone on. I am in disbelief.”

In the Gray Horse pub last night, one local who did not want to be named, said: “We didn’t know anything about the murder until we read about it in the paper, but since Selby was so far away, didn’t think about it.”

Another said: “Nothing much happens in this village.

“Even the people who worked on the industrial estate didn’t know about the farm until the police raided it.”