Search for body of murder suspect

James Brodie is widely believed to have been killed after the shooting

Police have been searching a farm in Leicestershire where they believe the body of their chief suspect in a murder inquiry may be buried.

James Brodie, 23, has been missing since Marian Bates was shot during a bungled raid at her Nottingham jewellery shop in September 2003.

Peter Williams, 22, of no fixed address, was found guilty of Mrs Bates' murder in March 2005.

His trial jury heard the man who fired the fatal shot had never been found.

It's my responsibility to find him Det Ch Supt Neil James

A team of divers and dog handlers are searching Willows Farm in Syston.

Det Ch Supt Neil James, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "We are gathering information all the time, some of it historic information, some more recent.

"This is just another strand of the inquiry. There is information that James Brodie is alive and well. If he is, it's my responsibility to find him.

"If he is dead, it's my responsibility to find out who killed him and bring that individual or those individuals to justice."

Stafford Crown Court was told that Williams and the gunman entered the store wearing crash helmets on 30 September 2003.

'Identity'

Gregory Dickinson QC, prosecuting, told the trial that Williams was one of the robbers, but not the man who pulled the trigger.

"The identity of the gunman remains uncertain. There is some evidence that it was a man called James Brodie but he has disappeared and cannot be found," the jury was told.

Speaking after the guilty verdict was returned, Det Supt Frame said Mr Brodie could have been killed.

He said: "We have information and intelligence that would suggest that he has been murdered."