Detectives have been granted more time to question a man held on suspicion of murder after three elderly men were violently killed in their homes just a mile apart.

The bodies of twins Dick and Roger Carter, 84, and Anthony Payne, 80, were found less than 24 hours apart in Exeter, Devon.

The deaths have been linked due to the “level of violence used”, according to Devon and Cornwall police, who launched a triple murder inquiry. They said the men who died all sustained serious head injuries.

A 27-year-old man arrested on Tuesday evening remains in custody at Heavitree police station in Exeter.

During a hearing at Exeter magistrates court on Thursday morning, officers were granted a further 36 hours of detention.

The man can be held for a total of 96 hours before he is released or charged.

Detectives said they were not “actively” looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths, but locals were urged to check on elderly neighbours or relatives.

Lianne Hill, who lives near the Carters, said: “It’s a bit scary when it is so close to home.”

The ambulance service alerted police to the discovery of Payne’s body at his terrace house in Bonhay Road at about 3pm on Monday.

And at 1pm the following day, officers went to the Carter brothers’ detached home in Cowick Lane after their bodies had been found. Police arrested the suspect hours later.

Hill said her mother had seen a “scruffy looking man carrying a tool bag” outside the elderly twins’ home just hours before their bodies were discovered.

The two murder scenes are just over a mile away from each other, but it is understood there are no known links between the Carter brothers and Payne.

However, DCI Roy Linden, from the major crime investigation team, said there were “several and significant common factors between the two addresses”.

“In terms of the level of violence used, we decided … to link the investigations,” he said.

Linden said investigators believed a “certain course of action” had taken place, although they were still treating the probe “very much with an open mind”.

The force also dismissed reports that a gun was found at one of the murder scenes.

Police have urged anyone in the area of Bonhay Road and Cowick Lane between 8am on February 10 and 1pm on February 12 to come forward.

Supt Matt Lawler, the local policing commander for Exeter, east- and mid-Devon, said: “Based on our current information, we have yet to establish a clear connection between the parties involved.

“I know that this news will cause significant and understandable concern and is an unprecedented event in our city, which has shocked us all.”

At Payne’s home, a handwritten note had been left on the front door which read: “Elderly man 80 years of age wants accommodation for himself and his pet cat. Any replies to 65 Bonhay Road.” It was signed “AG Payne”.

Floral tributes were left to the Carter brothers outside their house.

Wooden screens had been erected over the gates of the property.

One card said: “To Dick and Roger, will miss your conversations and drives to Sainsbury’s. RIP, Doris and Fred.”

Uniformed officers were also seen removing items from a wheelie bin in nearby Church Park Road and placing them in evidence bags.

Neighbours said one of the items looked like a “flip-flop or the sole of a shoe”.

Martyn Liddon, 76, who lives locally and knew Dick Carter, spoke of his shock at the deaths of the twins.

“I used to see him walking past our house and I used to see him on the bus,” said Liddon, who runs the Exeter-based Men In Sheds charity.

“I had known him for about 30 years. I didn’t do anything socially with him but I used to speak to him and ask him what he was doing today. He always used to inquire about our Men In Sheds shop in Paris Street. I wouldn’t call him a friend, but he was an acquaintance.

“We used to have a chat on the bus putting things right and that was the sort of conversations we used to have.

“To be honest I can’t get my head around why anybody would want to do that to 84-year-old men. It’s beyond me and I don’t think they had a bad bone in their body, either of them.”