Her husband died after being shot twice inside the bungalow during the attack.The killers bludgeoned the dead or dying couple around the heads with a blunt instrument in what the police described as a "violent and savage attack".The motive for the killings is unknown, but police discovered an open safe in the bungalow with some cash left untouched, suggesting that the attackers' primary aim was murder rather than robbery.Detective Superintendent Stuart Newberry, the officer heading the investigation, said: "I don't think this is a speculative burglary I think this is more about the Fishers themselves. She was shot a third time as she lay wounded on the ground outside their home. The couple, who were killed with a shotgun on bonfire night, may have known their attackers, detectives believe.Mrs Fisher was shot inside the bungalow and again in the back as she tried to escape. Chief Superintendent Dave Ellis, commander for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said police patrols had been increased to "raise the level of reassurance and reduce the level of fear" in the community.Detectives revealed that Graham Fisher, 60, and his wife Carol, 53, who were shot dead at their bungalow and then savagely beaten, were probably victims of a personal attack.

She had been suffocated.Police tried yesterday to reassure residents between Wadebridge and Camelford on the edge of Bodmin Moor, but admitted that killers were at large. Police have increased the number of patrols in rural north Cornwall in an attempt to reassure residents shocked and frightened by three murders in the area in less than a week. There are of course others in the running, such as the Master of the Rolls, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers. And a first ever woman Lord Chief Justice would build on the achievement of Brenda Hale, who was appointed Britain's first law lady last month.But if the judges are looking for a strong leader at a time when the independence of the judiciary is in jeopardy, no-one could be said to be better qualified to defend their position in the constitution than Igor Judge.. And Igor Judge declines to discuss the question of who will fill Lord Woolf's shoes. But at 62 years old he is still, in judges' terms, young and has already played a key role in discussions with the Government on issues that affect the judges.

The Lord Chancellor is the head of the judiciary responsible for the discipline of the judges. The Judges' Council is clear that these roles should be passed to the Lord Chief Justice, who by the time the reforms have been made law is unlikely to be Lord Woolf.When Lord Justice Judge was appointed deputy chief justice earlier this year there was no expectation that the post came with assurances that he would be the next Lord Chief Justice. The Government reforms have delayed his retirement, but he has said that he will shortly stand down as the most senior judge in England and Wales The question is already turning to the succession. As Lord Woolf's deputy, Igor Judge is well placed to take over what has become a key role in the British constitution.The abolition of the post of Lord Chancellor will inevitably strengthen the position of the Lord Chief Justice. "If the public thinks that the judges are not punishing criminals appropriately that leads to a breakdown in confidence in the judicial system."He says that this creates a number of dangerous long-term consequences including an exaggerated fear of crime and an unwillingness to report crime."Ultimately, it does lead to people taking the law into their own hands because they don't think justice will be done in the courts and that engulfs the innocent as well as the guilty."Nevertheless the British unwritten constitution is a finely balanced instrument, says the judge, that allows much greater flexibility than the rigid constitutions of other countries. Consequently there is, stresses Lord Justice Judge, even greater need for vigilance.These are the kind of sentiments that we have grown to expect from the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, who is becoming a fierce defender of the independence of the judiciary.