DETECTIVES investigating the murder of James Attfield in Colchester have traced two more people who were in the park where the incident happened – following a Crimewatch TV appeal last night.
James Attfield was found with 102 stab wounds in Lower Castle Park just before 6am on Saturday, March 29. He died shortly afterwards.
Earlier this month, police released 20 images of 23 people walking through the park in the hours leading up the murder – and now a man and a woman who were seen on CCTV walking through the area at 2.19am on the day of the murder have been traced following the airing of the appeal last night.
Police are now making arrangements to interview the man and woman to establish whether they have any further information about other people seen in the park at the same time.
A total of eight people caught on CCTV walking through Lower Castle Park late on Friday March 28 and into the early hours of Saturday have now been identified and eliminated from enquiries. A further 15 people have yet to come forward.
DCI Simon Werrett, who is leading the murder investigation, said: "The Crimewatch programme was extremely useful, [but] we still need to trace 15 people and would appeal to anyone who was in the park at the time and has not yet spoken to police to contact us as soon as possible.
"If anyone knows anything, no matter how small or trivial they think the information might be, please do get in touch with my investigation team.
"We still need help from the public to establish what Mr Attfield's movements were between the River Lodge pub shortly after 10pm on Friday March 28 and when he was found dying from stab wounds in Lower Castle Park shortly before 6am on Saturday March 29."
DCI Werrett said that forensic tests on knives found during searches in the park area had failed to establish any links to the murder.
He added: "We are convinced that the knife is still out there and so are the killer's clothes which are likely to be covered in blood. Someone must know where that knife and the clothes are."
A reward of up to £5,000 has been offered by Crimestoppers for information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person, or persons, responsible.
On Wednesday April 23, a 27-year-old man from Colchester was arrested in connection with the murder. He and a 27-year-old woman, also from the town, are now on police bail until Friday, May 9 pending further enquiries.
Anyone with information is asked to call Essex Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
