Miss Hall vanished at around in the early hours of 19 September as she walked from a nightclub in Felixstowe, Suffolk, to her home in nearby Trimley St Mary.

Her body was discovered in a ditch 25 miles away at Creeting St Peter, Suffolk, five days later.

Det Supt Lambert: Appeal for information

Police say a 1989 red Subaru 1.8GL estate, registration F206 DHL, was seen burning early on 19 September.

It was found burnt out on farmland near Creeting St Peter.

Police are desperate to discover whether the car could have been used by Miss Hall's murderer.

The ferocity of the fire had made it impossible for forensic scientists to find any evidence that would link the car to the murder, said a police spokesman.

"The fact that this car was dumped and set alight within hours of Vicky going missing is obviously suspicious," said Detective Superintendent Roy Lambert.

"However, we do not have anything to connect the car to her death and we would stress that the car was originally set alight some distance from where Vicky's body was found," he said.

Car sold in Yorkshire

"There is no obvious route between where Vicky's body was left and where the car was abandoned.

"Anyone who attempted to walk between the two places would have had to cover over a mile of farmland and would probably have been covered in mud."

The car was sold by a garage in Rawmarsh, South Yorkshire, on 23 March to a man with a South Yorkshire accent who gave his name as Paul Sanderson.

He is described as white, in his 30s, about 5ft 6in tall and of medium build, clean-shaven and with fair to light brown hair.

Mr Lambert appealed for Mr Sanderson to come forward and urged anyone who knew him to contact police.

He also urged anyone to call who thought they might have seen the car recently or who knew anything about its owner.