DETECTIVES were today given an extension to continue quizzing a man on suspicion of murdering Hampshire pensioner Georgina Edmonds.

Suspect Matthew Hamlen, 31, appeared before magistrates this afternoon where detectives were given until 9pm tomorrow to charge or release him.

He was being held at an unnamed police station in the north of the county for questioning over the killing of the 77-year-old grandmother who was found bludgeoned to death at her home more than two-and-a-half years ago.

As exclusively reported by the Daily Echo, police made the arrest after swooping on a house in Bishopstoke on Wednesday. Search teams spent the rest of the day combing the property in Hamilton Road and another property in The Crescent, Eastleigh, where Hamlen, 31, is thought to have lived recently.

Neighbours in Hamilton Road, were last night still in a state of disbelief after police carried out the early morning raid.

Hamlen is understood to live at the property with his mum, but works out of the area. The occupants of the house at the centre of the raid last night declined to comment on the police incident.

Neighbours said the people that lived there “kept themselves to themselves”.

Claire Anderson, who lives nearby, said: “It is a quiet house. This is all a bit of a shock and a bit surreal.

“This is a quiet little road, there’s hardly any noise at all apart from the odd bus.”

At The Crescent in Eastleigh – the scene of the second police operation – residents remained equally shocked at what had unfolded on their doorsteps.

Hamlen had rented a split-level flat on the road in 2008. The property is currently occupied by a young woman who has nothing to do with the investigation.

One neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: “I’m only living around here temporarily, but I couldn’t believe it when I saw all the police outside the flats.

“They were cutting down grass, carrying things in and out and taking loads of photographs. We had no idea what was going on.”

Detectives launched one of the biggest murder investigations in the constabulary’s history following the discovery of Mrs Edmonds’ body in January 2008 at her Kiln Lane home in Brambridge.

She had been beaten around the head with a rolling pin in the kitchen of her cottage. She had also been stabbed with what was believed to be a paring knife – something police thought may have been torture to get her to reveal her cashcard PIN.

It is the first arrest police have made in connection with the killing since the first week of the inquiry, when four people living in a hostel for ex-offenders were questioned. They were all later released without charge.

The arrest comes just weeks after police carried out new searches of the river and towpath close to Mrs Edmonds’ Brambridge home.

Following that, officers revealed they had recovered a potentially vital item which was being sent for forensic tests.