Picture of murder victim's clothing released

8:14pm Friday 9th May 2008

POLICE have released a picture of the type of clothing worn by a murder victim whose burned remains were found near Basingstoke.

The remains of a young woman were found in a field near the village of Dummer yesterday (Thursday) morning.

The woman was wearing a size 10 New Look wallpaper print grey hooded jacket that was sold in 601 New Look stores across the country from October 2007.

Detective Chief Inspector Gary O'Flaherty, from the Major Crime Department at Hampshire Constabulary, said: "This is a very distinctive jacket and we hope that by releasing this photograph it will jog someone's memory. We need to identify the victim, who was a white woman, aged between her late teens and early 30s and of slender build."

He said officers believed the victim may have died elsewhere before being brought to Dummer and set alight. But he added: "Those are only early indications. At the moment we are keeping a very open mind."

The victim's body was discovered by a woman walking a dog at 6.30am in a field by the Wayfarer's Walk footpath, near Dummer parish church.

A post mortem examination conducted at Basingstoke hospital revealed the body to be that of a white woman of slim build, approximately 5ft 6ins.

Detectives have revealed that the body was burned, but are not disclosing the exact cause of death.

The examination also showed that the woman has never had a child.

Det Ch Insp O'Flaherty said: "We are treating this woman's death as a murder and we need the public's help to assist us in identifying who was responsible for this vicious attack.

"We are carrying out a wide range of inquiries to try and identify this woman and would ask anyone who may know who she is to get in touch.

"We know the area of Wayfarer's Walk is very popular with dog walkers, runners and poachers and I would ask anyone who saw anything suspicious on Wednesday or Thursday, no matter how trivial it may seem, to contact the investigation team.

"We will have a very strong police presence here over the next few days."

The detective said he wanted to thank residents of Dummer for their assistance and asked anyone who has not yet spoken to police to get in touch, as they hope to speak to every household in the village.

Anyone with any information regarding the incident should call Hampshire police on 0845 045 4545 quoting Operation Fletcher, or telephone Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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