A MASS DNA screening programme will get under way today as detectives continue the hunt for the killer of a Hampshire grandmother.
About 120 people have been asked to provide a mouth swab to police as they try to narrow down their search for the murderer, Mrs Edmonds, 77, was bludgeoned to death in her Brambridge home more than two years ago but her killer remains at large.
Detectives are now taking DNA samples from people living within the local community who have come into the murder inquiry in some form.
They hope that by testing samples of up to 2,000 people they will be able to narrow down the focus on their suspect.
Police are targetting a small Hampshire community in the hunt for the killer of Georgina Edmonds, two years after her murder.
Every person required to provide a DNA sample has now been written to and asked to turn up to a community club where fingerprints will also be taken.
From today a team of police will be at The Progressive Club in Twyford Road, Eastleigh – just a short walk from the cashpoint where the prime suspect in the murder tried to use Mrs Edmonds’ cash card hours after she was found dead.
The pensioner’s body was discovered on the kitchen floor of her cottage, on the banks of the River Itchen, on January 11, 2008. Her son Harry made the gruesome find.
She had suffered knife wounds to the top of her body, thought to have been torture to get her to reveal her PIN.
The killer then rained blows to her head using a marble rolling pin from the kitchen, before locking her inside the property and fleeing the scene.
Detectives, with the help of geographical profilers, believe whoever carried out the murder may have and could still be living or working in the local area.
The mouth swabs will be sent to the Forensic Science Service to be tested against a profile found at the murder scene and then destroyed if there is no match.
Only people who have been contacted by police are being asked to attend, bringing photographic proof of identity with them.
• The Progressive club will be open today and tomorrow from 10am-8pm, and on Saturday from 10am-4pm.
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