THE murder of Georgina Edmonds was so horrifying it sent shockwaves through the usually peaceful communities of Brambridge and Otterbourne.

Billboards appealing for help lined the busy cut through route of Kiln Lane, while drivers were stopped and spoken to in the hope they might have information.

Within days, police had carried out a dawn raid at Elderfield, the nearby Christian run hostel for ex-offenders, where they arrested four men. All were later released without charge.

A further arrest took Hampshire police to Poland in search of a local man who was known to have left the Eastleigh area suddenly, but again he was released without charge.

Officers from all corners of Hampshire police were playing their part in the investigation, from forensic examiners to river search teams, from dog units to PCSOs delivering leaflets.

Detective Superintendent Jason Hogg, who led the inquiry, codenamed Operation Columbian, since 2009, described it as a "full force response".

"Every time there is a murder the police and the local communities want whoever is responsible brought to justice, but because this involved such an elderly, vulnerable lady in her own home, I think people did take it quite personally. There was very much a sense that this could be anyone's mother or grandma," he told the Daily Echo.

But despite numerous reviews of the case, both internally and externally by Surrey police, officers were yet to get a breakthrough.

They had tracked down and spoken to ex cons across the Eastleigh and wider community and asked them to account for their whereabouts on the day.

Those included Matthew Hamlen, who was cleared of the killing today.

Since November last year, the complex trial, featuring world experts, has played out in Court 3 at Winchester Crown Court.

The case is thought to have cost millions of pounds on top of an incalculable amount of money spent trying to solve the murder and bring a case before the courts.

Jurors were told by Judge Sir David Clarke they would now be exempt from serving again on any jury for the next ten years.