As a reporter, you get used to dealing with extreme situations.

I've covered fatal crashes, major fires, harrowing inquests and grisly discoveries.

But while emotionally draining, they are part of the job that you have to get used to.

That's not to be flippant about incidents that change people's lives – or end them – but it is necessary to find a way to cope, in order to continue to do the job.

Put simply, it takes a lot to shock me.

But this week's events near East Harling have managed it.

As former editor of the weekly newspaper in Thetford, the tiny Breckland village was part of my patch.

I also grew up in Thetford, and Harling was a regular haunt for me.

I have plenty of memories of wet and windy days playing football there, and hot and sticky ones playing cricket.

I have friends who still live there, and I know the pubs, the chippy and the butchers.

I've been there for the opening of play areas, parish council meetings, met couples celebrating golden weddings, and been part of passionate debates about local issues.

Murder is always a horrific and grisly crime wherever it is committed, but when you know a place intimately, it is all the more visceral.

And when you know the place to be a quiet, friendly village, cognitive dissonance kicks in.

How could a place so harmless be the site of something so hateful?

We are very fortunate to live in an area so safe and serene. It's what makes a murder so shocking – perhaps we are privileged to feel that way?

Of course, the area around Banham, East Harling, Garboldisham and all the other villages near the site will overcome this tragedy.

The people I know who work so hard to make it an inclusive, kind and peaceful place will continue to do just that.

But the sadness and shock of such a heinous crime will linger. For those who knew Peter Wrighton, it may never go away.