“It’s me, Ann Heron’s killer!” said the anonymous, taunting letters received by the police and the Northern Echo. Mrs. Heron’s throat had been cut and part of her bikini removed as she sunbathed in the garden of her home at Middleton St. George, near Darlington, County Durham, on AUGUST 3rd, 1990.

She was the 44-year-old wife of a haulage contractor who found her body on his return home from work. He offered a £5,000 reward for information leading to her killer’s conviction, and the police conducted more than 100,000 interviews in the investigation. They learned that a man described as suntanned and in his 30s had been seen driving away from the house, but that was as far as they got. The case remains unsolved.