Hair-in-hand murder on Crimewatch

The body of Ms Barnett was found clutching someone else's hair

The murder of a mother found stabbed and mutilated in her own home is to be featured on BBC's Crimewatch programme.

Heather Barnett, 48, was discovered by her two children in the bathroom of her flat in Bournemouth in November 2002.

She was found holding strands of hair that did not belong to her and had been carefully cut from someone else's head.

Ms Barnett's son Terry, now 18, will be speaking publicly for the first time when he appears on the programme on BBC One at 2100 BST on Tuesday.

We are hopeful that we are only one phone call away from solving it [the murder] Det Supt Phil James

The seamstress, who grew up in Sturminster Newton in Dorset, had been stabbed several times, hit over the head with a blunt hammer-like weapon and her body had been mutilated in her ground-floor flat in Capstone Road, Charminster.

Her body was discovered by Terry, who was then 14, and his 11-year-old sister, Caitlin, when they returned home from school.

Police believe the clumps hair, which Ms Barnett was found clutching in her hand had been placed there by her killer.

Det Supt Phil James, who is leading the hunt for Ms Barnett's killer, will be making a fresh appeal for information during the programme.

A bloody footprint from a rare Nike trainer was found at the scene

He said: "Four years on, the desire to catch Heather's killer remains as strong as it did on day one.

"Crimewatch have been very helpful in recognising how unique this murder is and we are hopeful that we are only one phone call away from solving it.

"Detectives continue to work on this horrific case and Dorset Police is committed to catching Heather's brutal killer."

Detectives have previously investigated a possible link between Ms Barnett's murder and the death of 16-year-old Elisa Claps, who vanished from the Italian town of Potenza on 12 September 1993.

A 32-year-old man from the Charminster area who was arrested in June 2004 in connection with the case was released without charge.