After 19 years, killer hunt goes on

Police have pledged to continue their hunt for the killer of prostitute Janine Downes who was found in a lay-by in Shropshire 19 years ago today.

The half-naked body of 22-year-old Janine was discovered close to a hedge on the A464 Shifnal to Wolverhampton road on February 2, 1991.

Officers have recently completed the latest in a number of "cold case" reviews into the unsolved murder and the details are contained in an extensive report.

Today Detective Chief Inspector John Groves, of the force's major incident team based at Telford's Malinsgate police station, who is responsible for the inquiry, confirmed the force's intention to trace Janine's murderer.

"We continue to seek that vital piece of evidence that will point us in the direction of an individual, whether that is someone we already know about from the original inquiry, someone who has come to our attention since, or a person we do not yet know anything about," said Mr Groves.

"The advances in forensic science, particularly DNA, are so rapid this process is on-going and the inquiry into Janine's murder will not close while it remains unsolved," he added.

Janine, from Wolverhampton, was just 5ft tall and weighed less than eight stone. She had been strangled with a ligature and suffered extensive head wounds caused by a jagged-edged weapon.

She had also been sexually assaulted. Her half-naked body was found just before 9.30am on February 2 - a frosty Saturday morning. It was concealed near a small hedge in a lay-by on the A464 Shifnal to Wolverhampton road.

Janine was wearing only a paisley pattern blouse, a bra and blue ankle socks. Her other clothes - white trainers, blue jeans, and a black shell-suit top with a yellow stripe bearing the words Nike International - have never been found.

Marks on the frosty ground indicated where Janine had been dragged and a pathologist estimated that her body had been dumped there between midnight and 4am.

The identity of Janine's killer has remained a mystery and no obvious motive has ever been established for her murder.