Police have no plans to dig up the garden of a Brighton property where a former officer suspects a serial killer buried the body of a missing teenager.
TV presenter and former Surrey Police officer Mark Williams-Thomas said that a convicted murderer Peter Tobin, 71, used to live at the address near the Seven Dials.
Shortly before Tobin moved in, 18-year-old Louise Kay went missing from Eastbourne where Tobin worked.
Mr Williams-Thomas made the claims last week in the first of a three-part ITV documentary called The Investigator: A British Crime Story.
He also suggested that Tobin killed another young woman, Jessie Earl, whose body was found at Beachy Head.
Tobin was jailed for life 11 years ago, in 2007, for murdering three women. He was given three life sentences and told that he would spend at least 21 years in prison.
Sussex Police gave some help to the programme maker but said that detectives were not persuaded that there was any new evidence to justify digging up the garden of the property – a council house in Windlesham Road, Brighton.
The force said in a statement: “We are aware of the ITV documentary series and have been in contact with the producers over the past year, supplying them with briefing material along the following lines. We have not supplied an interview.
“Current position (2018) in relation to cases of Jessie Earl and Louise Kay – Following the extensive scoping exercise by police across the UK between 2008 and 2010, focused on Peter Tobin, at this time there is still no evidence or intelligence to suggest any specific person is responsible for the death of Jessie Earl or the disappearance of Louise Kay.
“The current position in Sussex is that the cases of Jessie Earl and Louise Kay form part of our Crime Review Team’s schedule of unresolved major cases and they are assessed every two years to examine any new information that has been provided, or to consider advances in investigative techniques, that would make a re-investigations viable.
“Currently no new information has been provided in these cases and there are no outstanding lines of inquiry.
“We have no evidence implicating Peter Tobin or any other named or known individual in the murder of Jessie Earl or in the disappearance of Louise Kay.
“We understand the continuing anguish of the families of Jessie and Louise in not knowing what happened to their loved ones and our thoughts remain with them.
“We will never close these cases until and unless some resolution and closure is found for them.
“We will always examine any new information or forensic opportunities which might lead to new lines of inquiry whenever they arise.
“Our next scheduled assessment of these unresolved cases is due to take place later this year, 2018, and anyone who has any new information that could lead to new lines of inquiry can always contact Sussex Police via email 101@sussex.pnn.police.uk or call 101 at any time, quoting Operation Silk (for Jessie Earl) or Operation Azure (for Louise Kay).
Having watched the programme on catch-up, it was heavy on conjecture and light on specifics, although this is not surprising. Having watched the second programme, it was refreshing to see mark williams thomas ready to junk his hypothesis when it was unsupported by the evidence. Sussex police almost certainly know more than they can say publicly, but I would be impressed to hear they were working with the tv company to evaluate the evidence they both have as well as they possibly could. I get a sense of the police’s professional pride standing in the way of proper co-operation to the detriment of the victims’ families and the memory of their loved ones.