A German man wanted in connection with the discovery of a woman’s body in a wheelie bin outside his home is believed to have fled across the Channel with his lover three weeks ago.

Peter Wallner hired a Volkswagen van on May 15 and was captured on CCTV driving towards Dover two days later.

Mr Wallner, 33, whose wife Melanie had not been seen at their home in Cobham, Surrey, for around a year, is believed to be travelling in the company of Lilia Fenech.

Surrey Police issued a photograph of the couple today and are liaising with overseas forces in an attempt to discover their whereabouts.

Miss Fenech, 23, is Maltese and Mr Wallner told neighbours before he disappeared that he had lost his job as a hotel chef and was going to look for work in Malta.

A police spokesman said: “Mr Wallner hired a VW Crafter van with the registration number RV58 YDX from a rental company in Surrey on May 15.

“The vehicle was captured on Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras on the M25 in Kent and close to the docks at Dover on the evening of 17 May with two people inside.

“Mr Wallner is known to have bought two tickets for a cross-channel ferry that evening. The couple may also have three dogs with them two Jack Russells and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

“Mr Wallner and Miss Fenech lived at the rented property in Hamilton Avenue, Cobham, until roughly three weeks ago and their whereabouts are unknown.”

The badly decomposed body of a white woman, aged in her 30s, was discovered on Saturday after neighbours of Mr Wallner reported seeing a human foot protruding from the bin.

Local people said binmen had refused to take the bin away because it was too heavy.

A post-mortem examination found that the victim had suffered a serious head injury but did not reach a firm conclusion on the cause of death. Inquiries are continuing to establish the woman’s identity but they have been complicated by the advanced state of decomposition of the remains.

Police issued descriptions of Mr Wallner and Miss Fenech. He was described as “a heavy-built white man with broad shoulders, roughly six feet in height, with slightly-receding brown cropped hair and brown eyes”.

Miss Fenech is said to be “white with a Mediterranean complexion, 5ft 5”-7” tall, slim, with dark hair and dark eyes and could be wearing glasses”.

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