A spiritualist medium was arrested yesterday on suspicion of murdering his wife, an award-winning television make-up artist, who went missing a week ago.

David Chenery-Wickens, 51, who gives himself the title Reverend, told police he was the last person to see his wife, Diane, after they travelled from their home near Uckfield, East Sussex, to London where she was going to a meeting at the BBC.

He said that they parted at Kensington-Olympia station after arranging to meet later at a hair salon where Mrs Chenery-Wickens, 48, had an appointment.

But Mrs Chenery-Wickens, who worked on the hit comedy series Dead Ringers and League of Gentlemen, never arrived at the salon.

Sussex police said last night that a 51-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of Mrs Chenery-Wickens’s murder and would be interviewed later. He is understood to be in custody at a police station in Eastbourne.

Sources confirmed that the man detained was Mr Chenery-Wickens, who is understood to minister at several spiritualist churches.

He describes himself as “Rev Chenery-Wickens” in his listing as secretary of the Lavender Line steam railway in Sussex.

A member of the railway committee told The Times: “David is a kind of a roving minister who attends several churches. I’m not sure what his religion is exactly, but he is a spiritualist and a medium.

“He’s also a psychic, he said he could see through to the other side and he was often called away from the railway to visit people in hospital who were ‘passing over to the other side’. He could help people with their problems or people who were in trouble because he could see the other side.“He’s a very pleasant man, we all liked him very much on the railway.”

Another Lavender Line committee member said: “He has often been called away to London to minister to people who were seriously ill or dying in hospital. David always has a very nice manner and a caring attitude.”

Mr Chenery-Wickens reported his wife missing to the Metropolitan Police in London last Thursday. Mrs Chenery-Wickens has worked for more than 20 years on hair and make-up design on a wide range of television programmes.

In 2003 she was nominated for a British Academy award in the make-up and hair design category for her work on Dead Ringers. In 2000 she won an Emmy in the United States for her “outstanding make-up” on the series Arabian Nights.

The impressionist Jon Culshaw – who worked with her on five series of Dead Ringers - made a televised appeal for help in finding her. He told BBC South East: “We knew her really, really well. She has been our make-up artist for about five years.

“We spend a lot of time together and she is a lovely woman. It’s really out of character, which makes it all the more concerning.”

The missing woman’s brother, Russell Wickens, said their parents were “frantic” with worry and he urged her to make contact.

In a statement issued by police, Mr Wickens said: “Diane’s husband, her family and friends are all extremely worried. Her disappearance is uncharacteristic behaviour and causing us great concern. We urge her to get in touch just to let us know she is safe.”

Mr Wickens travelled to Sussex last night to help police in the search for his sister.

The family statement, issued earlier this week, said that Mr Chenery-Wickens was “too distressed” to talk about his wife’s disappearance. In an interview in 2006, Mrs Chenery-Wickens said that while at school she had aspired to become a hairdresser and beauty therapist, and trained at the London College of Fashion.

She later took a two-year in-house traineeship at the BBC before becoming a freelance make-up artist.

As she pursued her television work, Mr Chenery-Wickens became a stalwart of the Lavender Line. As catering manager he introduced “Wine and Dine Trains” and developed the business side of the steam railway.

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