A MURDERED policewoman from York was stabbed in the throat and had her head beaten, a post-mortem examination has found.

Surrey Police have also seized a knife and a baseball bat from a property in West Street in Haslemere, where pregnant mother-of-two Heather Cooper lived in a detached house with her partner, ex-detective constable Peter Foster, who is still being questioned on suspicion of her murder.

The body of Miss Cooper, who was originally from Acomb in York, was found in dense woodland at Blackdown Woods, about four miles from her home, on Sunday.

The 33-year-old, who has a three-year-old son and a baby daughter, was on maternity leave at the time of her death The post mortem examination was carried out on Tuesday at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, and gave the preliminary cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head and an incised wound to the throat.

Miss Cooper was a serving detective constable with Surrey Police, having joined the force in 2003. She worked in the Public Protection Investigation Unit based at Guildford Police Station.

She was a keen horse rider, having studied equestrian science at Bishop Burton College, in East Yorkshire, and she used to train horses at the Naburn Grange Riding Centre for many years, where she was known to be “popular, cheerful and bubbly”, her former instructor Denise Lancashire said.

Surrey and Sussex Assistant Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney said: “Heather’s death has had a profound effect on all who knew her and we are doing everything we can to support her family at this difficult time.

“She was an exceptional officer and much loved among her police colleagues, many of whom were also her friends.

“The police service is in many ways like a family. The death of any officer is always a time of sadness but to lose Heather under such circumstances has been particularly hard to bear.

“I cannot praise enough the professionalism of Heather’s friends and colleagues within the force, many of whom have continued to do their jobs at a time of personal grief.”