THE mother-of-two was beaten to death with a blunt weapon last July 22 as she walked her pet Labrador Rosie in Kennel Lane, just hundreds of yards from her Sandiway home.

Since then, police have taken 1,300 statements, 1,400 messages and visited 400 homes in the village. They have dealt with 4,000 inquiries and logged almost 10,000 names and vehicles.

"We've lived and breathed this inquiry for 12 months, said Detective Chief Inspector Peter Rigby, who is leading the hunt. "It is extremely sad that this matter is not detected."

Although his team is being slimmed down, DCI Rigby remains determined to catch the killer.

"Some murder inquiries can be cleared up in days or months, others take years," he said. "I strongly believe we will detect this murder. We're committed to it and always will be."

A £30,000 reward is still available and DCI Rigby hopes this week's anniversary will encourage new witnesses to come forward. He renewed his appeals to joggers, dog walkers, drug users and the gay community. But he issued a fresh appeal - to anyone who may have been in prison during the last year and heard anything about the murder.

"Someone out there obviously knows something about this," he said. "Search your conscience. Do you suspect someone or something? No matter how trivial you think it is, let us be the judge."

If you can help, ring the incident room on 01244 613298 or Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555 111.

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