IT should have been a day of celebration with her family.

Georgina Edmonds would have enjoyed spending her 79th birthday with her family – and in particular her two grandchildren she adored.

Police launch new video appeal to find Georgina's killer.

But instead police are using the day to make another poignant appeal to catch the pensioner’s brutal killer.

It’s 18 months since 77-year-old Mrs Edmonds was murdered – tortured and stabbed repeatedly with a kitchen paring knife in what is believed to have been a bid to get her to hand over her cashcard PIN.

She was also beaten around her head with a marble rolling pin taken from the kitchen of her riverbank home, called Fig Tree Cottage, in the grounds of Kingfisher Lodge, Brambridge.

The hunt to find who did it has been one of the biggest undertaken by detectives from the major crime department – and their determination is as strong as ever, despite the many hundreds of lines of inquiry proving fruitless so far.

Within days of the killing, officers swooped on Elderfield, a nearby hostel for ex-offenders, where they arrested four men who were later released without charge. Another signifcant step saw police travel to Poland on the trail of a local man who had aroused suspicion, but he, too, was ruled out.

The investigation has seen similar crimes across the UK and worldwide carefully examined for links, which have so far drawn a blank, while 300 former convicts have been traced and spoken to in the wider Eastleigh community.

Today’s release of a five-minute video appeal is the latest move to try to trigger a conscience or spark a memory from the day of January 11, 2008, and finally lead detectives to their man.

The film is being screened on the Daily Echo website as well as Internet site Youtube and features footage and images from the inquiry as well as reconstructions that show key people still to be traced. Detective Chief Inspector Paul Barton also talks about key points so far during an interview with Daily Echo crime reporter Jenny Makin.

“We may be 18 months down the line but the brutal murder of this defenceless and vulnerable woman cannot be lessened,” he said. “While her children and grandchildren must try to continue with their lives, the impact of losing a much-loved mother and grandmother in such a truly abhorrent way will never leave them. By releasing this footage we aim to reach an even wider audience in the hope that someone somwhere will complete the missing piece of this jigsaw.

POLICE APPEAL

Do you know or suspect anybody who would have had the opportunity to commit this crime on Friday, January 11, 2008?

Do you know or suspect anybody of using the victim’s stolen ATM card at the Tesco Express, Twyford Road, at 10.38pm on the same day?

Do you know anybody who has left the area since the day of the murder or has stopped using the Tesco Express store and ATM?

Have you noticed a change in behaviour or character of any person, but particularly those who might have connections either to Twyford Road or Kiln Lane or both?

A £30,000 reward is available to whoever provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.

Anyone with any information should contact the Operation Columbian investigation team at Hulse Road on 0845 045 4545 or call Crimestoppers on 0800

555 111. Alternatively, write to Freepost, Operation Columbian, or e-mail operation.columbian@ hampshire.pnn.police.uk.

“Whoever did this needs to know that we will not go away – we remain as determined as we were in the initial days of the inquiry to bring Mrs Edmonds’ killer to justice.”

Mrs Edmonds was murdered some time between 11.15am and 3.15pm at her home in Kiln Lane. Shortly before, she had been visited by her hairdresser for her weekly appointment and had settled down after making herself lunch.

In a chilling move, Mrs Edmonds’ killer took a moment to lock the pensioner inside her house, taking the keys with him as he fled. She was left lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor, where she was found at 5.30pm by her distraught son Harry when he returned from work.

The murder had a profound effect on her gardener and groundsman Ian Wrightson, pictured right, who was forced to give up the job he loved and move away from the area because of what happened to the woman he thought of as a mum and called “Mrs E”.

One of the key clues was a man who tried to withdraw cash from a machine at the Tesco garage in Twyford Road, Eastleigh, later that night but failed because the number was incorrect.

He was seen covering his face from the cameras and wearing a flourescent yellow jacket. He is yet to be traced.

A number of items have never been found that are known to have been taken from Mrs Edmonds’ home.

They include a silver credit card holder, a brightly coloured key fob with a key attached, a Lloyds chequebook and cash card, and a black Radley handbag.

Det Chief Insp Barton added: “I would urge people to be vigilant and call police if they think they find any of these missing items.”