THREE men charged with the murder of a 45-year-old Ipswich man have appeared in court this morning.

Patrick Heggarty, 51, of Limerick Close, Ipswich, Christopher Page, 37, of Piper’s Court in Old Foundry Road and Timothy Bailey, 28, of Spring Road but formerly of Piper’s, appeared before Ipswich magistrates in three short hearings today.

The trio are accused of murdering Martin Edwards, who was found at his Piper’s Court flat in Old Foundry Road, by a neighbour around 11.30am on Christmas Day.

They were all remanded in custody and the case was sent to Ipswich Crown Court for a hearing tomorrow. No applications for bail were made.

The charge, read out in court, was “on or about the 24th of December, murdered Martin Edwards.”

Four people, including a 36-year-old Ipswich woman, were arrested by police on suspicion of murder.

After being questioned by detectives from Norfolk and Suffolk’s major investigation team, the three men were charged last night.

The 36-year-old woman was released on police bail until March 9, pending further investigations.

Results of a preliminary post mortem test have shown Mr Edwards, who was an alcoholic, died from multiple injuries.

A house in Limerick Close and a flat in Spring Road were among those visited by forensics teams over the past few days as part of the inquiry.