Police hunting the killer of an elderly couple found brutally murdered in their home in North London today have arrested a man near King's Cross.

The bodies of Derek Robinson, a retired paediatrician, and his wife Jean, a retired music teacher, were discovered at 8am by a decorator who had come to work on their house, and may have disturbed the killer.

The decorator let himself in with a key and stumbled on a blood-splashed scene so gruesome that detectives have yet to establish what weapon was used to kill the couple.

Detective Superintendent Sue Hill said: "This is a horrific attack. These people were in their own home and they were slaughtered."

The couple were found downstairs in their semi-detached house on a secluded private estate with gated roads in a leafy area of Highgate Hill.

Detectives believe that the victims fought their killer who may have been injured in the struggle. A trail of blood was found leading out of the back door and through the garden to a fence that the killer appears to have climbed.

The house had not been broken into and detectives said that nothing appeared to have been taken. They believe the couple may have let their attacker in and could even have known him. "We just don't know at this stage what the motive could have been," a source said.

A close friend of the Robinsons said: "Many people around here have been crying today. They were very worthy people who were held in great affection and they loved their family, including grandchildren, very much.

"They had no enemies and this simply must have been a random attack. I saw them last night and my wife saw them at 7.30am this morning and they were fine.

"They were the most generous members of society. If this had to happen to someone they are the least deserving people there are."

Ms Hill confirmed that both victims had been seen alive earlier by neighbours, before the decorator arrived at 8am - and apparently disturbed the killer.

She said: "(The decorator) had come to do some work when he found two lifeless bodies. He said he found a man and a woman both dead and appeared to be suffering from stab wounds.

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