Shirley's killer still at large

On January 7, 1994, the body of the 66-year-old grandmother was discovered in a toilet cubicle at Bury Interchange. She had been strangled and sexually assaulted.

Despite intensive inquiries which stretched worldwide, Mrs Leach's killer still remains at large on the tenth anniversary of her death.

Even though a decade has elapsed since the incident, detectives are pinning their hopes on a matching DNA sample which will finally close investigations into one of Bury's biggest unsolved murders.

During the last ten years, literally thousands of DNA samples have been taken from criminals nationwide. These, in turn, have been logged with the police's national DNA databank to determine if any match those culled from bloodstains salvaged from the original murder scene. So far, however, no match has been found.

Shock felt by the killing reverberated around the town and forced many women to seriously reconsider their own safety, especially at night. Sales of personal attack alarms soared in the wake of the murder and for some time the Interchange became a virtual "no go" area in the evenings.

Mrs Leach, a mother-of-two from Holme Avenue, Brandlesholme, had been visiting her daughter, Beryl Linton, at Fairfield Hospital. At 9pm on Thursday, January 6, she caught the 469 bus which arrived at the Interchange 15 minutes later. She was to have caught a connection home. But she never boarded the vehicle. Her body was discovered at 4.15am on the Friday by a courting couple.

Bury Interchange was cordoned off for most of the day as police and forensic officers undertook a painstaking investigation at the murder scene.

The following day, detectives held a press conference. The man leading the hunt, Det Ch Supt Ian Maskrey, said: "As regards the person responsible, to attack whom I would no doubt express to be a defenceless old lady, we've got to be looking for someone who is quite brutal and who obviously has no regard for human life."

Detectives launched an extensive hunt for the murder suspect, described as a "stooped" man, aged 30-50, 5ft 5ins tall and wearing a jacket, sports coat or suit and dark trousers. He may have also been wearing a flat cap or had a hairstyle which gave that impression. The man had been spotted about 9.45pm on the Thursday near the toilets and again, 15 minutes later.

In the wake of the murder, more than 40 officers manned a busy incident room, equipped with the latest computer technology. In the first two weeks alone they dealt with 678 lines of inquiry, embracing piece by piece details gleaned from telephone calls and statements.

On January 13, a week after the murder, officers boarded the same bus Mrs Leach had taken on the night of her killing as they retraced her final journey.

In February, police launched a massive blood screening operation. About 500 men were asked to provide samples for DNA testing after forensic tests revealed that blood, other than the dead woman's, had been found at the murder scene. The majority of those requested to give blood were in the Interchange on the fateful night.

In April, the gruesome murder was reconstructed and featured on BBC TV's Crimewatch.

Meanwhile, inquiries stretched as far away as Australia. A man in his 60s, whose name was on a Bury hotel register at the time of the murder, was traced with the help of Interpol. A DNA sample was taken and flown to England for analysis.

Mrs Leach was finally laid to rest in June, alongside her husband, Ronald, at Bury Cemetery. At the funeral service, the Rev Ian Blay of All Saints Church, Elton, said poignantly: "We are not here to remember a crime statistic or a murder victim, but a life, the life of Shirley Leach." The service, attended by about 100 mourners, ended with a tape of Whitney Houston singing "I Will Always Love You", a personal favourite of the Bury pensioner.

Later, with no new positive leads emerging, police gradually scaled down their operation and the manpower being utilised to catch the killer. By July, six detectives were working full-time on the case, supplemented by four colleagues from the Serious Crime Squad.

Two detectives flew out to Germany in September to question a former Bury man and took mouth swabs for analysis.

Meanwhile Mrs Leach's children, Beryl, then 43, and 42-year-old son Gary, were still finding it almost impossible to come to terms with the trauma surrounding the death of their beloved mum. Painter and decorator Gary, who had lived with Mrs Leach, suffered depression and had to undergo counselling.

And tragically in 1998, divorcee and mother-of-one Beryl was diagnosed with stress-induced cancer of the mouth. She died a year later.

At the time, Gary told the Bury Times: "Beryl never stopped thinking about her mother and the way she was murdered. It affected her and didn't really help her battle against cancer. It is so sad that she has died without our mother's killer being caught."

Previously, she and Gary would place flowers by their parents' grave to coincide with Mrs Leach's birthday, Mother's Day and other family occasions.

By 1996, police had collected almost 1,000 DNA samples. By then, officers had new powers to obtain mouth or buccal swabs from anyone charged with certain categories of crime, including murder, rape and serious indecent assaults. These offered better and more favourable technology and enhanced the hope of ultimately obtaining a match.

In 1999, The Sunday People newspaper teamed up with former Greater Manchester Police Deputy Chief Constable John Stalker to offer a £10,000 reward.

Two years later, hopes of a significant breakthrough in the murder hunt were dashed. In May, detectives had circulated homeless hostels and the media with new security camera footage of a bearded man, believed to be a drifter. The man's image was captured on CCTV in a Bury town centre shop on the night of Mrs Leach's murder.

The mystery man was eventually traced by police and in August he was eliminated from their inquiries.

Last October it was disclosed that British man Tony King, arrested in Spain following the death of two teenagers, was being investigated over a possible link to Bury's unsolved murder. But detectives said the move was "very much a standard and regular inquiry" and were keeping an open mind.

But it is the DNA technology which offers the greatest hope of ultimately snaring her killer.

Det Ch Insp Frank Raggett of Bury CID said: "Without a shadow of a doubt, this is our strongest line of inquiry. If we find this man through other means, we can hopefully match him to the sample we have.

"It is encouraging to know that DNA has allowed the detection of people many years after a crime was committed. This remains a very strong possibility for us and we are still very optimistic".

He added: "We are keeping this inquiry under constant review. We still do get lines of inquiry occasionally from members of the public and we react to those accordingly. Things are still ticking over."

He disclosed that investigations surrounding a possible link with Tony King were being co-ordinated by New Scotland Yard.