'Hard slog' in Bakewell murder inquiry

Wendy Sewell was found in Bakewell's cemetery

Detectives reopening the hunt for the killer of Wendy Sewell, murdered in a Derbyshire cemetery in 1973, have said they are prepared for a "hard slog".

Stephen Downing's conviction for her murder was quashed in January - he had served 27 years in jail.

Detective Inspector Sam Slack said he did not expect there to be any quick arrests in the investigation.

Mr Slack said the killing had always been talked about in the Derbyshire town of Bakewell and he hoped new information would be revealed.

Wendy Sewell was the victim of a brutal attack

"Usually in inquiries anything could happen at any moment, this is more of long hard slog.

"If people do come out of the woodwork it might take days to establish if their information is any use or if it is credible.

"Relatively straight forward things like tracing people's movements 29 years ago takes a lot longer than it might usually do.

"People may not have been a witness but they might have heard something that they feel is significant two years or 10 years later."

This week officers started interviewing all the surviving witnesses from the original inquiry and other people whose names have been put forward as potential suspects.

Autumn finish

Ms Sewell, a 32-year-old typist, died after being savagely beaten with a pickaxe handle.

She died two days after she was discovered in the Bakewell cemetery.

Stephen Downing, who was then a 17-year-old groundsman, signed a confession which he later retracted.

He was convicted but always maintained his innocence.

Judges decided that since the initial confessions might be unreliable, Mr Downing's conviction was unsafe.

The new investigation, led by Detective Superintendent David Gee, is expected to last until the autumn.