Skydiver murder witnesses traced

Stephen Hilder was an experience skydiver

Police say they are nearer to finding the killer of skydiver Stephen Hilder.

Mr Hilder, 20, an army cadet from Hereford, fell 13,000 feet to his death at Hibaldstow Airfield, north Lincolnshire on 4 July after his parachute was sabotaged.

Officers from Humberside Police set up a mobile police station during the British National Parachute Championships at Hibaldstow.

New witnesses were traced after a number of people from the skydiving community approached officers and told them they were at the airfield during the week Mr Hilder died.

New information

Detective Superintendent Colin Andrews said: "The operation over the weekend was very worthwhile and provided a fair amount of new information.

"In particular, there is one new line of inquiry that we will be looking into in greater detail.

"We are substantially further on than we were four weeks ago and I remain absolutely confident we will find Stephen's killer."

Detectives launched a murder inquiry after discovering that the cord on Mr Hilder's main parachute and the strapping on his reserve chute had been deliberately severed.

They say it is likely the crime was committed by another skydiver as expert knowledge would have been needed to sever the key elements of the parachute.