New clue in canal killing

Mary Gregson, 38, was sexually assaulted and strangled as she walked to work along the towpath of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in August 1977.

Her body was found by police next morning in the River Aire near Salt's Mill, Saltaire.

The attack, only yards from the Shipley home she shared with her husband and 11-year-old son, shocked the community.

Despite a police hunt involving 100 officers and interviews with more than 9,000 people, her killer has never been found.

Detectives have confirmed Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has been eliminated from inquiries, along with 750,000 other convicted criminals on the national DNA database. Advanced forensic technology has given police a genetic profile of the man they believe murdered Mrs Gregson. Detective Chief Superintendent Brian Taylor, who was involved in the initial murder hunt, is heading the new investigation. At a Press conference today, he said: "I now have scientific means to eliminate people from the inquiry. All but one person is innocent of this crime and I now have the facility to prove that. I'm in a position to eliminate and implicate."

He added: "Although Mary's murder took place 22 years ago, it is still talked about in the district and is still very much in people's minds."

He thanked members of the public who had already helped with the inquiry and made a fresh appeal to Shipley residents, past and present, to think back to the time of the murder. He urged residents to contact friends, former neighbours or family who have moved out of the area.

He said the breakthrough had been made possible by a new DNA test known as SGM Plus.

Around 150 people from the original list of 9,000 interviewed had already come forward for swab tests. Anyone else contacting police would be required to have a swab test."There is nothing to fear," he said.

Mrs Gregson's husband, William, died of a heart attack in 1981. Her son Michael, now 33, still lives in the area. Officers can be contacted in confidence on Bradford 537422.

The last tragic 'ta-ra'

Twenty two years ago on a warm summer evening Shipley mother Mary Gregson said "Ta-ra" to her young son and set off for work.

The half-mile journey from her canal-side home to Salt's Mill, where she worked as a part-time cleaner, was a familiar one.

As normal, the 38-year-old had arranged to meet another cleaner at the Victoria Road bridge before the start of their shift at 5.30pm.

Instead she met her killer.

The alarm was raised when she failed to turn up for work. Her husband of 19 years, Bill, waited for his wife to come home that evening before the search began.

Mrs Gregson's body was found by a police officer at 7.45am the following day, Wednesday, August 31, in the River Aire, about 50 yards from where she was attacked.

A post-mortem examination revealed she had been strangled and sexually assaulted. It was thought the killer had dumped her body in the river in an effort to cover his tracks.

A week after her death, police issued a description of a man spotted standing over Mrs Gregson at the bottom of a grassy bank about 50 yards from the river.

He was described as being in his mid-20s, about 5ft 10ins tall, with a long but not thin face. He had light brown hair, fair or lightly coloured eyebrows and had a poor complexion.

He had a thin nose and a slightly open mouth. A witness described him as "gormless-looking" and detectives said they had reason to believe he might not be too intelligent.

Detectives also wanted to trace a man aged about 50 who was walking along the towpath from Saltaire towards Shipley at about 5.30pm and who passed the scene of the attack.

Leading the inquiry, Detective Chief Superintendent John Domaille vowed they would one day catch her killer.

The brutal murder shocked the Shipley community and haunted her family.

Three months after his wife's death Bill Gregson told the Telegraph & Argus: "I will never rest until the man who killed Mary is found. He has taken a huge part out of my life."

He stopped work the day his wife was killed to take over her role and become both mother and father to their son Michael, who was 11 at the time.

Breakthrough points the finger

Advanced forensic technology means police can now get a genetic profile from almost any sample.

The unique DNA strand can be identified, allowing detectives to search for a match among existing databases or eliminate new suspects. Crime scene officers look for any trace left of criminals, from a strand of hair to a drop of blood.

When the national DNA database was set up in Birmingham in April 1995, police were given the power to take DNA samples from anyone charged with a recordable offence.

More than 9,000 people were interviewed during the Mary Gregson murder inquiry. Superintendent Brian Taylor said: "We didn't carry out swab tests on those 9,000 people, so it isn't as simple a task as comparing the DNA.

"But this breakthrough means we now have a genetic profile of the man we believe killed Mary.''

Hunt even stretched to Devon

The extensive police hunt - stretching as far as Plymouth - has so far proved fruitless.

Husband Bill Gregson died in 1981 without ever knowing who killed his wife.

During the first 12 months of the inquiry, police spent about 40,000 man hours on the case. And in the two years following the murder, 1,300 statements were made and 9,500 people interviewed.

On September 13, 1977 a female police officer helped in a reconstruction of Mrs Gregson's last walk to work that fateful day.

The WPC wore almost identical clothing - a blue anorak with a thin red stripe, blue jeans and moccasin-type shoes.

Mrs Gregson's son Michael, a former pupil of Wycliffe School, Shipley, and Salt Grammar School, also took part.

During that same month Detective Chief Superintendent John Domaille, who was leading the inquiry, said: "Mary Gregson was a decent, respectable housewife, as good as gold.

"It was a terrible, terrible, murder and our search for the man who did it will never end."

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