DETECTIVES investigating one of Hampshire's longest-running murder inquiries were today said to be closer than ever to naming the killer.

New leads surrounding the 1969 killing of Southampton University student Joan Lesley McMurray were thrown up following recent stories in the Daily Echo.

Detective Superintendent Dave Haverly, head of Hampshire police's Western area CID team, said vital previously unavailable information had now come to light.

The officer appeared on BBC Breakfast News this morning, filmed leafing through evidence from the time of the murder 30 years ago.

He said: "I am confident that the original investigating team did have contact with Lesley's killer and his identity is in this card system."

The McMurray case is one of only a few unsolved murders on Hampshire Constabulary's files.

Joan, a beautiful and brilliant third-year biology student, disappeared on a walk along the Itchen Navigation Canal from Shawford to her Swaythling digs on June 2 1969.

The 21-year-old had just kissed her boyfriend Charles Gore goodbye, saying she wanted to walk along the water's edge to Montefiore House.

It was not until nine months later that her badly decomposed body was found in a shallow grave at Allington Lane, Fair Oak.

The case was scaled down after numerous appeals proved fruitless, but was reactivated earlier this year following new information.

Today former Detective Chief Inspector John Baker, who was second in command on the original inquiry, spoke of his hopes the case could finally be closed.

Now retired, Mr Baker, who still keeps in touch with the McMurray family, said: "It seems as though we have failed in our duty.

"I would dearly love to see it brought to a conclusion."

Police have not revealed details of the new lines of inquiry.

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