Crimewatch sparks new sighting in the Betty Yates murder (From Worcester News)

Crimewatch sparks new sighting in the Betty Yates murder

12:58pm Friday 27th January 2012 in Local By Alicia Kelly, @aliciakellyWN #worcsnews

POLICE are following up a new sighting of a car seen near the home of Betty Yates after an appeal on Crimewatch.

Mrs Yates was found battered and stabbed to death in her remote cottage near Bewdley on Wednesday, January 4 although police believe she may have been killed on Monday, January 2.

The sighting of the car - a silver coloured Audi estate - which was being driven in Dowles Road early in the evening is now being followed up.

The detective leading the murder inquiry, Detective Chief Inspector Neil Jamieson, has thanked those who did respond to the televised appeal.

However, after Crimewatch there were less than a handful of calls to the studio and Major Incident Room at Stourport Police Station and despite it being a focus of the appeal police still do not know the authors of two anonymous letters sent last week.

DCI Jamieson has made a fresh appeal for people who visited Mrs Yates’s cottage between her birthday on Wednesday, December, 28 and the evening of the Bank Holiday Monday to come forward.

The Major Incident Room can be contacted on 0300 333 3000 and a reward of up to £10,000 is still on offer from Crimestoppers for anyone who calls the independent charity on 0800 555 111 with information leading to an arrest and conviction of the killer or killers.