MURDERED law student Janet Murgatroyd is now believed to have been beaten by her attacker and left to drown.

At first, police thought the 20 year-old from Penwortham had died from severe head and facial injuries.

But Home Office Pathologist Dr Edmund Tapp told an inquest on Tuesday that Janet was still alive - though deeply unconscious - when she went into the River Ribble.

Dr Tapp said: "She was unconscious for a considerable period before going into the water. It was apparent she was in the water for a short time and when she went in she was very close to death.

"It would appear she was lying below the high water mark, then, at high water, she was picked up by the tide."

He added although the part-time police worker had drowned, she would have died from her injuries. The inquest has been adjourned.

Her mother, Mary Murgatroyd who shared a house with Janet in Broad Oak Green, Penwortham, spoke publically for the first time at the inquest. Recalling the hours before her daughter's murder, she said: "She rang me when they left Wall Street and said they were going off to some student pubs." Det Supt Graham Gooch, who is leading the 46-strong murder inquiry team, said: "We now believe Janet's attacker battered her and left her for dead, neither knowing nor caring whether she was alive. We belive she survived for at least six hours before the tide dragged her into the river." Police have extended their inquiries to cover every person who was in the area near Penwortham Bridge between the hours of 12.30am on Sunday, June 16 - when Janet was seen walking past Tokyo Jo's nightclub - until around 7.30am.

They are searching for a woman captured on security film walking down Strand Road at 1.36 am on Sunday, June 16. Another woman they want to trace was seen on the west side of Penwortham Bridge looking over the parapet at 2.30am. She had long, blonde hair, a dark top and light trousers.This security camera shot could be vital clues to Janet's murder.

THE last known picture (top) of the victim in Natwest bank on Fishergate shortly before 1pm on Saturday, June 15, just hours before her death.

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