Police: 'We will get Vikki's killer' (From Witney Gazette)

Police: 'We will get Vikki's killer'

2:57pm Tuesday 20th March 2007 in Witney By Jo Duckles

NEW evidence is being investigated that detectives hope will finally lead them to the killer of West Oxfordshire mother Vikki Thompson.

Mrs Thompson, 30, was brutally attacked as she walked near her home at Ascott-under-Wychwood 12 years ago, in a killing which shocked the nation.

Despite a major police inquiry and repeated appeals for help from Mrs Thompson's family, her killer has never been brought to justice.

But on Monday, detectives on a newly-established 'cold case review team' told the Gazette they had new forensic evidence which they were examining.

Detective Superintendent Barry Halliday said: "There have been significant advances in forensics that has caused us to submit further exhibits.

"We are actively working on that at the moment, and we are confident it will bring this to a successful conclusion.

"Despite it being 12 years, we are committed to bringing her killer to justice."

Thames Valley Police has set up a team of eight detectives, which will review all the county's unsolved murders over the past 50 years. They will also be re-investigating rapes over the past 27 years.

The team is still deciding which murder cases they will tackle first, but the Thompson case is one being actively investigated.

Mrs Thompson's husband, Jonathan, has been told of the development.

Pete Beirne, a former detective turned civilian investigator on the team, said: "We want justice for Vikki's children, her husband, and her mother.

"We have to ensure the killer does not commit further offences, and reassure the public that any crime of this magnitude will be investigated as thoroughly as possible to deter anyone else who may be thinking of doing it that they will get caught."

He would not reveal exactly what forensic scientists had examined, but he said: "There are a number of items that have already been examined."

Mr Halliday was also hopeful the passage of a dozen years might finally lead to anyone who knows the killer to finally come forward. He said: "Times change, people's circumstances change, so do their positions and their loyalties. We would urge anyone to come forward, because information is always important. Whatever they may have said at a particular time, there may have been a very good reason why they did not tell us something."