A former Bradford builder has been beaten to death in France and his dismembered body dumped in woods.

And French police said today that Graham Anderson's 15-year-old son and 22-year-old step son have been charged with his murder.

The body of unemployed Mr Anderson, 57, was found in woods about 50 km from the south west city of Saintes where had lived for the past nine years. It is believed he had been attacked with a baseball bat.

Today his distraught daughter Louise Marsden, 36, from Baildon, told how she received a phone call from France telling her of her father's death.

She was about to take her son to play football on Saturday when she received a phone call from France.

She said: "Some friends of my father just said that my father was dead. 'Your daddy is finis' and that was it. I don't think shock is the word. I don't feel anything at the moment.

"You just don't expect this to happen do you? I just can't believe it."

She added: ""The Foreign Office has still not contacted us. We went to Shipley police station to find out. We should have been informed by Interpol but the French police had not contacted them.

"I was close to my dad and used to ring him once a week to chat about the kids, and how my husband Colin and I were going on at work.

"I spoke to him last Sunday and I remember saying: 'I will speak to you next week dad'. He was fine and said he would sort things out. He was still quite frail. He had a heart attack over a year ago and came over to stay with us for a little while - that's when I last saw him."

A Foreign Office spokesman said Mr Anderson's 15-year-old son Tim and stepson James Lee, 22 had been charged with murder and that his estranged wife Jacqueline, 47, and a friend of the family, who has not been named but is believed to be French, have been charged with assisting in disposing of the body.

Reports in the local French newspaper quoted a neighbour at a block of flats in Saintes who told how she heard blows and saw a body near a lift cage.

"His face was unrecognisable and there was blood everywhere. He was dead."

She called the police but when they arrived the body had gone.

The remains of Mr Anderosn were later found in woods.

Mr Anderson had been jailed last June for beating his wife and for trying to set fire to her home.

It is understood he was released at the beginning of March and tried to get in touch with her.

Mrs Marsden said: "He had been separated for two years and lived some distance from Jacqueline. I don't know much about her, she's an English girl and they got married in 1983.

"Things deteriorated once they got over there. He had been working up until his heart attack on April 19, 1997 though the French hospital had told him he couldn't work.

"He just wanted to get on with his life, he preferred it over there, he liked the climate.

As well as the emotional turmoil Louise and Colin, a 45-year-old Yorkshire Water quality control technician, face a financial headache. They have been told that they need to find at least £3,500 to bring his body back. Louise added: "I want him to come back over here."

A Foreign Office spokesman said last night: "The French authorities conducted a post-mortem examination today to determine the cause of death. The next-of kin have been informed and we are providing what consular assistance we can to them

"We will be liaising with the family to see if they want the body to be repatriated. The son and step-son are being held in prison and the consul have requested access to both."

Mr Anderson was well-known in the Bradford area. He began his career as a plumber in the Shipley area and lived for many years in Wrose Drive, Wrose. His business flourished and he helped build luxury timeshare homes in Scotland. But work nose-dived and according to former neighbour Terence Bradbury who knew him for more than 30 years, he went bankrupt.

He said: "He was a Jack the Lad character and a bit of a dreamer who had ideas above his station. He was all right though he could be a bit firey and get wound up.

"Scotland was a big job and he must have had 15-20 men working for him up there. He was a decent lad and I just feel sorry for how he has ended up. How sad."

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