Hair found in water in 'no body' murder inquiry

Tests are being carried out on possible human hair discovered in a waterway as part of a police investigation into a "no-body" murder.

Julie Buckley, 54, was last seen at a shop in March, Cambridgeshire, on 28 January. Karl Hutchings, of The Hill in Christchurch, has been charged with her murder.

Det Insp Rich Stott said dive teams had searched water along the Sixteen Foot Drain between Bedlam Bridge and Boots Bridge after a fisherman found the hair.

The detective appeared on BBC One's Crimewatch Live to appeal for more information and for dashcam footage from the March and Christchurch areas on 29 and 30 January.

In February, detectives said they were treating the disappearance of Ms Buckley as murder because she had not been seen since January.

Det Insp Stott shared more details about the investigation with the Crimewatch team, including that blood found at an address linked to Ms Buckley has been confirmed as hers.

He said: "We strongly believe Julie may have come to harm and we're carrying out thorough searches of the area.

"Our dive teams have been searching the water around the Bedlam Bridge and Boots Bridge areas and a fisherman discovered what we believe to be human hair in the water.

"We're awaiting results from that hair to ascertain if it belongs to Julie."

In addition, a witness has come forward about seeing a car at Bedlam Bridge at about 21:30 GMT on 30 January.

"It was in a strange position, on the wrong side of the road," Det Insp Stott told the BBC programme.

"They believe they saw somebody throwing something into the water, it was out of the ordinary and they noticed it as a standout situation."

He appealed for dog walkers, fishermen, farmers and land owners in the area to come forward if they noticed "disturbed land or anything unusual or out of place".

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