A mother-of-two who was found dead in her home hours after her husband was involved in a car crash had been murdered, police have revealed.

A post-mortem examination on Barbara Jane Cumming, from Dundee, confirmed that she had been killed.

Her husband Neil remains unconscious in Ninewells Hospital with serious injuries after smashing his car into the back of a van on the A90, hours before Mrs Cumming’s body was discovered in her Longforgan home on Friday.

Police said they will not disclose the nature of the injuries that led to 40-year-old Mrs Cumming’s death, but believed that she was “murdered”.

Mr Cumming is of “significant interest” to the investigation, but police have not been able to speak to him since the car crash near the Landmark Hotel roundabout at around 11.40am on Friday.

Officers going to notify his family of the incident attended the Cumming’s Mary Findlay Drive home at around 1.55pm on Friday, where they found Mrs Cumming’s body.

The Blairgowrie-born mother, who worked as a sales advisor at the TSB in Dundee’s Albert Street and was known as Jane to her friends, had two daughters, 12-year-old Nicole and Claire, 11.

As the murder inquiry continues, police has appealed for a taxi driver who was seen near the family home on Friday to come forward.

A man driving the black Peugeot people carrier-style taxi in Mary Findlay Drive at about 2pm stopped momentarily to speak with police officers at the scene.

Witnesses

Tayside Police said it is possible he may have seen or heard something in the area that could be of “assistance to the investigation”.

After the discovery of Mrs Cumming’s body, the house was immediately cordoned off to allow forensic experts to investigate the scene.

Door-to-door enquiries have also been carried out across the village, near Dundee, and detectives have undertaken a trawl of private CCTV as they seek to piece together Mrs Cumming’s movements in the hours before her death.

Police said the public response to appeals for information has been “encouraging”, but they are still hoping to speak to anyone who was in the Longforgan area, or who saw Mrs Cumming on Thursday evening or Friday morning to speak to them.

A force spokesman added: “It is possible that Jane, either alone or with family, travelled to nearby Dundee to shop on Thursday evening. She may have been out and about in the village the following morning.

“Jane drove a silver Toyota Yaris, which bears the distinctive private registration number of W2 BJC. Anyone who saw Jane or her car should contact Tayside Police with that information.”

Mr Cumming, 45, was trapped in the wreckage of his grey Volkswagen Passat for several hours after smashing into the back of a blue Mercedes lorry on Friday.

Officers want to hear from the occupants of a dark blue or black 4x4 vehicle that passed the scene of the collision at around the time that it happened.

While they also believed a child in another passing car filmed or took photographs of the incident on a mobile phone or camera. While the driver of that car has spoken with police officers already, Tayside Police would appeal for them to get in touch again.

If you have any information that could assist the police investigation, call 0300 111 2222.