Attacker hunt 'wide open'

The hunt for the maniac who stabbed Abigail Witchalls was stepped up today as police staged a dramatic re-enactment of the attack.

A detective declared the inquiry was still "wide open" despite the suicide of a key suspect in the case.

The reconstruction to be shown on TV's Crimewatch next Wednesday features an actress dressed as Mrs Witchalls pushing a buggy along the route where the 26-yearold was attacked.

The move came as detectives investigated the background of Richard Cazaly, a 23-year-old itinerant gardener who lived in the Surrey village of Little Bookham, where the attack took place, and killed himself with an overdose a week later.

He had driven 600 miles to north-west Scotland and two days later took an overdose of paracetamol. He died on 30 April.

Police said Cazaly's suicide made him an important suspect but there was nothing to prove he was responsible for the attack.

Officers were checking reports that he had just broken up with his girlfriend who flew back to Australia a few days after he disappeared. They were examining the possibility he may have been depressed over the break-up.

Today it emerged that detectives have flown to Australia to interview Cazaly's girlfriend in the hope she will provide vital information about his whereabouts on the day of the attack. Police are also examining a suicide note which could provide clues.

A police source said: "There is nothing to prove that Cazaly was responsible for the attack. He has become a strong suspect because of the manner of his death."

Police point out there are differences between Cazaly's appearance and the description given by Mrs Witchalls, and emphasised he had no criminal record or history of violence and was not a known drug taker.

A call naming him as a suspect was only received after he drove to Scotland so he could not have been identified earlier.

A police source said: "Once his name came in we started to make enquiries but by that time it was too late. He had driven to Scotland and may have already taken an overdose. He disappeared on the day we interviewed Mrs Witchalls and got a better description of the suspect."

Forensic tests are being carried out on his body to see if he can be linked by DNA to the crime scene but the results may not be known for four weeks. His Volvo 440 car is also being examined in a search for traces of Abigail's hair, fibres from her clothes or blood spots.

Police sources say Cazaly's was one of 40 names but it did not stand out at the time. Officers had visited his home during house-tohouse checks and he was questioned briefly at a police roadblock.

Cazaly lived in a communal house, yards from the mother and toddler centre Mrs Witchalls attended with her 21-month-old son Joseph before setting off to walk home.

His home, owned by his employers, the Lower Road Nursery, has been searched and clothes and property seized. It is not believed that Mrs Witchalls knew the gardener and detectives are waiting to interview her again in hospital.

Cazaly left Little Bookham on 25 April - the Monday after the attack. After a 10-hour drive he arrived in Scotland and checked into a bed and breakfast. He dialled an ambulance on 27 April. His friends told detectives they did not know of any reason for him to commit suicide. Mrs Witchalls was stabbed once by a man as she pushed her son home. The attacker held a knife to the toddler's throat before grabbing Mrs Witchalls hair and thrusting the three inch blade into her neck.

As she lost consciousness, she was able to give a brief description of the attacker and a reference to a blue car. The blade severed her spinal cord, leaving her paralysed.

Cazaly, who travelled from place to place picking up seasonal work, matched the general description of Mrs Witchalls's attacker. But he had a goatee beard whereas Mrs Witchalls said the attacker was clean shaven. Cazaly also had short hair rather than scruffy hair, and an unusual piercing in one ear which police expect would have been noticed by Mrs Witchalls. Detectives have been in Scotland since Cazaly's death. He is believed to have been conscious after the overdose and they are talking to anyone who may have spoken to him.

Cazaly is said to have told his employer he was going to work for someone else, rather than showing any obvious sign of "fleeing the scene". Police denied that a witness had named him as a man seen in the lane before the attack.

In the re-enactment today the footpath where Mrs Witchalls was attacked was cordoned off to allow film crews to record the scenes. The results could help to eliminate potential suspects, including Cazaly and Terry Barnes, who was arrested and later released.