West Yorkshire Police have announced that three men have been charged with the murder of Michael Ayres, whose body was found in Hyde Park on Saturday night.

Stuart Jarvis, 50, and Andrew Jenkins, 37, from Heights West in Armley, along with Stewart Malnieks, 61, of Midland Road, in Leeds have been charged with murder and remain in custody.

They have also been charged with perverting the course of justice, and will appear before Leeds magistrates court tomorrow.

Firefighters discovered the body of Mr Ayres when they responded to reports of a bin on fire on Hyde Park Avenue at 7pm on Saturday.

The police were called to the scene, and Mr Jarvis and Mr Jenkins were quickly arrested, with Mr Malnieks being detained soon after.

Detective Superintendent Simon Atkinson said: “While we are still establishing the full circumstances surrounding his death, we can say that this appears to have been an incident involving people that are known to each other and there is no threat to the wider community in that area.

“We recognise however that this incident will cause concern among people living there and officers from the local neighbourhood policing team are conducting increased patrols of the area to provide reassurance.”

Jessica Murray