Yard reopens 1988 train murder case

Scotland Yard has reopened a 14-year-old investigation into the murder of a woman on a commuter train.

Debbie Linsley, 26, was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack as she travelled alone in the middle of the day on the Victoria-bound train.

The murder shocked the nation, but the killer was never caught.

Today, however, detectives announced a DNA breakthrough that could identify the murderer.

They have resubmitted bloodstains from the murder scene to the Forensic Science Service which, using sensitive, new techniques, has pinpointed the killer's "genetic fingerprint".

As police announced the development, Debbie's parents, Arthur and Marguerite Linsley, made an emotional appeal for anyone with information about the killing to come forward.

Mr Linsley, 68, a retired insurance broker, said: "Debbie's murder changed our lives completely, and everything is pre- or post-Debbie's death. Everything. Our world changed on 23 March 1988. Not only for Marguerite and I, but for our son and his family and all our friends and family."

Debbie, a senior hotel receptionist in Edinburgh, had been visiting her parents at their semi-detached home in Bromley after attending a management course in north London. On 23 March, her brother dropped her off at Petts Wood station from where she caught the 2.16pm Orpington to Victoria train.

Her body was found slumped in a closed compartment in a pool of blood when a porter checked the carriage 10 minutes after it arrived at Victoria. She had been stabbed up to 11 times - in the face, neck, chest and abdomen.

A post-mortem examination revealed she had fought her killer and died from a wound to the heart.

A massive manhunt was launched and hundreds of men gave blood samples to see if it matched splashes of a rare group found at the scene.

Detectives were never quite sure when the killer struck. Debbie had time to smoke two cigarettes on the 30-minute journey and a French au pair, who was in the adjoining compartment, heard a woman's screams just after the train left Brixton. At Victoria, her attention was caught by a man who appeared to get out of the compartment behind her and walk quickly to the exit.

Today, police are conducting a publicity campaign at Victoria station and ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald programme will feature a detailed reconstruction of Debbie's last movements.

Speaking on the programme, Debbie's mother remembers the close relationship she had with her daughter. "I called her my treasure, she was a gorgeous little girl and, by the time she died, she had become my pal, my mate," said Mrs Linsley. "She was a dear person, a loving person, a generous person, a very outgoing person. Everybody loved her. That's how I want her to be remembered."

Mrs Linsley admits she and her husband are still baffledby the motive of her murderer. "She wasn't assaulted sexually, for which I thank God every day. If it was robbery, she only had a fiver that she'd borrowed from her brother. So why do it? Was it just a lust to kill?"

Mr Linsley said: "Debbie was actually returning to Scotland in the middle of the afternoonwhen you would not expect there to be any danger. She didn't put herself at risk like some girls do and yet she paid for it with her life.

"Justice is part of the healing process. As a young boy brought up in the North of England, I was taught that England was a just place. I haven't had much justice."

Debbie's former flatmate, Liz Cowie, says the only way that Debbie's parents can move on is if the murderer is found. "If they could catch the murderer they would be able to lay it to rest. Not that we would forget."

Police have already checked the DNA profile against the national database without success. Keith Chamberlain, a former Scotland Yard detective who has been brought out of retirement to investigate unsolved murders, said: "At the time of Deborah's murder in 1988, DNA testing was a relatively new forensic technique.

"We believe that we have the DNA of the suspect from blood recovered at the scene and I would urge anyone who has any information to come forward."

Mr Chamberlain said the police did not have an explanation for the murder. "She was just on the train minding her own business and someone got on and, for whatever reason, he killed her. It's just totally unheard of - someone getting in and doing this awful thing to her.

"All we need is a telephone call and a name - and somebody must know. I would say to whoever does ring us, it could save somebody's life because this man could kill again.

"Do you remember anyone acting suspiciously on the afternoon or evening of Wednesday 23 March 1988? Did any of your friends or relations have an unexplained injury?"

Anyone with information should call 020 7321 7353/2 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

? Tonight With Trevor McDonald, 8pm, ITV1.