A Gravesend minicab driver has been arrested in Portugal after the body of his partner was found buried under concrete at their home, according to reports.

Last Tuesday evening (January 6) police used pickaxes and pneumatic drills to break up a concrete slab in the garden of the couple's Algarve home.

They are said to have discovered the body of a 72-year-old woman, named Brenda Davidson, wrapped in plastic and tarpaulin.

The mother-of-four went missing in November.

A 59-year-old man, named Nigel Jackson and according to newspaper reports - who worked as a minicab driver in Gravesend - was arrested on suspicion of her murder.

The Portuguese Resident newspaper reported Jackson told neighbours Mrs Davidson had "gone to UK for treatment for a nasty cough" but later alerted police to her disappearance and "dedicated himself to trying to find her".

Other local news reports said the former taxi driver later admitted to police he had buried her, leading them to her body, but claimed she had killed herself. 

The pair had been living in Alvor near Portimao for 10 years, after moving there from their home in Cliffe Woods, Medway.

Jackson is yet to be formally charged.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "We can confirm the detention of a British national in Algarve, Portugal on January 7. We have offered consular assistance."

Asked about Ms Davidson, the spokesman added: "We can confirm there was a British national reported as missing in the Algarve in Portugal since December 2014.

"We are providing the family with consular assistance."