Simpson-Kent painted over bloodstains to conceal the crime before fleeing to Ghana in January 2016, according to major media. He was later arrested at Heathrow Airport after extradition and received a whole life order. Former detective Steve Keogh, who worked on the case, told Daily Express - UK News that Simpson-Kent's claim that Blake left with the boys raised alarm due to her motor neurone disease.
Police treated the disappearance as murder after noticing signs of trauma in the kitchen that had been painted over. Investigators used UV light to reveal concealed signs of trauma and deployed cadaver dogs to search the garden. Four days into the inquiry, a call confirmed the discovery of the bodies.
It just didn't sit right, she couldn't look after herself, how could she look after herself and these two little boys? So, we decided that we would now going to treat it as a murder unless proven otherwise. So we went back to her house and a colleague of mine went in and one of the first things they noticed was, in the kitchen, there were obvious signs of trauma, but it had been painted over as if somebody had been trying to cover up the crime scene.