ON the day Sir Bobby Robson celebrates sporting triumph, his family are mourning the killing of a Suffolk pensioner.The bitter-sweet irony for Ipswich's football legend comes at a time when he is being lauded for steering Newcastle into the next phase of the Champions League with a historic 3-2 victory over Feyenoord last night.

By Tracey Sparling

ON the day Sir Bobby Robson celebrates sporting triumph, his family are mourning the killing of a Suffolk pensioner.

The bitter-sweet irony for Ipswich's football legend comes at a time when he is being lauded for steering Newcastle into the next phase of the Champions League with a historic 3-2 victory over Feyenoord last night.

But it has emerged that the daughter of Glenda Walker – whose husband was in court today charged with her murder at Great Bealings – is married to one of Sir Bobby's sons.

Mrs Walker, 63, was found dead at the couple's isolated £500,000-plus Meadow Cottage, on the edge of the quiet village on Tuesday morning.

John Walker stood in the dock today accused of his wife's murder. His son and daughter sat in the public gallery as magistrates at South East Suffolk Magistrates Court in Ipswich heard how Walker, 65, came to be charged with murder.

Silver-haired Walker was dressed in a beige jumper and matching shirt when he appeared today.

Prosecutor Gareth Davies said a post-mortem had revealed that a single gunshot wound killed Mrs Walker, who was found by police at 8.20am on Tuesday.

Jane Robson, the Walkers' daughter, wiped away tears as she heard details of the crime, which cannot yet be published for legal reasons.

The court heard that the Walkers had been married for over 40 years.

Walker's defence solicitor Nikki Miller said the couple's son Adrian, a solicitor living in Islington, had brought bank statements to court to show he had a balance of £35,000 in an account, and was willing to offer £30,000 as a surety on behalf of his father if he was given bail.

But chairman of the bench Diane Hunt told Walker: "We are not going to grant you bail today. You will be remanded in custody until Thursday, when you will appear at Ipswich Crown Court."

Detective Inspector Jim Keeble, leading the investigation, said both Adrian and Jane declined to comment at this stage.

It is believed that Jane married Sir Bobby Robson's youngest son Mark in 1987.

Mrs Walker's killing happened 36 hours before one of the greatest nights of Sir Bobby's career as his Newcastle United side snatched victory in Rotterdam to gatecrash the second phase of the Champions League.

It was the first time a team had clinched a place in phase two after losing their first three games in the first stage, and 69-year-old Sir Bobby said it was probably his best moment in the job to date.