OAP murderer removed her heart

Police have revealed Mrs Leyshon's heart was removed

Police investigating the murder of a 90-year-old woman on Anglesey have revealed her heart was removed by the killer.

Detectives said Mabel Leyshon's heart was removed from her body and taken to another location in the sitting room in her house at Llanfairpwll.

North Wales Police revealed the new facts to journalists on Wednesday more than three weeks after the pensioner's body was found by a meals-on-wheels volunteer.

Mabel Leyshon : Victim of a 'frenzied attack'

Detective Superintendent Alan Jones, who is leading the hunt, said he believed the offender lived locally and was mentally ill.

"If we are looking for somebody who is prepared to undertake an attack of that nature it is probably somebody with mental health problems," he said.

"I am reaching out to the community to say that if they have concerns about any individual through their behaviour, that they should contact North Wales Police as a matter of urgency."

Efforts to explain the significance of the two pokers in a cross formation laid at Mrs Leyshon's feet have so far been unsuccessful.

Officers have consulted experts in the field of the occult and witchcraft, and said there was nothing to suggest there is any connection.

More than 100 people have already given DNA samples.

Police are considering a wider screening programme but no firm decision has been made.

Det Supt Jones has appealed to anyone with information to come forward.

If we are looking for somebody who is prepared to underake an attack of that nature it is probably somebody with mental health problems

Detective Superintendent Alan Jones

That includes social services, the health service and the probation service to help further inquiries who may know someone they feel suspicious about.

Detectives from the North Wales force are continuing to communicate with detectives in Suffolk who are investigating the death of an elderly woman near Ipswich at the weekend.

Police say there are similarities between Mrs Leyshon's murder and that of 79-year-old Joan Albert at her home in Capel St Mary, near Ipswich

But there is nothing to link them formally, they said.

Mrs Albert had been stabbed repeatedly and was found in her nightdress at the bottom of the stairs.

Mrs Leyshon died in a frenzied attack, which North Wales Police described as "callous and brutal".

Mrs Leyshon was last heard from on the Saturday afternoon two weeks ago when she spoke to a friend in Birkenhead, Merseyside, on the phone.

Detectives have studied CCTV footage from the area,and the case is to be featured on the BBC Crimewatch programme on Thursday.

Anyone with information should contact North Wales Police on 01286 684868.