A mother and her three children were found battered to death after worried relatives in Birmingham raised the alarm, it emerged yesterday.
It is understood the brother of Uzma Arshad, who lives in the city, called West Midlands Police late last week after receiving what he believed to be a crank call.
Officers visited the family home in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, and discovered the family dead on Sunday. It is thought they had been lying there for several weeks.
A police spokesman said: "There are relatives in the West Midlands and we are liaising with them and with West Midlands Police. The family have asked to be left alone."
It has been reported that Mrs Arshad's brother received a phone call days before the discovery of the bodies.
The brother thought he had been the victim of a crank call and only realised its significance after being told his sister and her children had been found murdered.
Uzma, aged 32, her sons Adam and Abbas, aged 11 and eight, and six-year-old daughter Henna, all died of head injuries.
Police are continuing to hold two people in connection with the killings.
The 35-year-old woman and 40-year-old man, both from the Burnage area of Manchester, were arrested on Wednesday.
