The Unsolved Murder of Linda Guest 1985 It is a sad fact of life that some murders go unsolved and that sometimes killers get away. However, nowadays new scientific techniques such as genetic finger printing offer a way of tracing the killers. Linda Guest 1985 - Bristol Prostitute's murder remains unsolved TWENTY long years have passed since prostitute Linda Guest's body was discovered - half-naked and lying in a pool of blood by a country footpath - and police are no nearer now to finding her killer than they were then. Found by a young couple on Sunday, April 22,1985 in lonely 'Lovers Lane' - a bridlepath near Frampton Cotterell - the 35-year-old had been stabbed repeatedly with a knife. DS Malcolm Hughes, who was leading the murder hunt, described it as a 'vicious attack'. He told the press that her clothing - a blue and white striped mini-dress - had been found in disarray and that she had been sexually molested. A hundred police officers were immediately drafted in to help with the investigations, which centred on Perrinpit Road, a well-known shortcut leading from Almondsbury and Thornbury to Frampton Cotterell. Despite help from villagers from as far away as Winterbourne, the murder weapon was never found. . Grete Weaver, who lived at nearby Perrinpit Farm, told Post reporters that a couple had knocked on her door at about 12.30am saying that they thought there had been a rape. She went with them to the scene and found a body lying in the gateway of afield. Police later identified as that of Linda Guest of Hepburn Road, St Paul's, Bristol, a good 10 miles from the scene of the crime. Although neighbours whom the Bristol Post talked to didn't recognise her name, they said that someone fitting her description did live there, in one of the flats owned by the Churches Housing Association. Gradually, the full story emerged. The name she used, Linda Guest, was an alias and the prostitute was, in reality, mother- of-three Jackie Waines. She had been spotted at 11.10pm on Saturday, April 21 by the driver of a small Escort-type van in Ashley Road, St Paul's, which she often frequented in search of 'clients'. She kept a second home in a council maisonette at Bevin Court, off Grosvenor Road, where she usually took these men. Ten minutes later, she was seen walking down the road - the last time that she was seen alive. Neighbours told the Bristol Post that she had 'lived' there for some seven years with her three daughters, but that these girls had now been put into care. It transpired that she had later moved in with a friend in Hepburn Road but had continued to work from the maisonette, collecting her mail from the house every morning. She was described as a quiet woman who kept herself to herself and who frequently stayed indoors for long periods alone. They also revealed that she had been friendly with another prostitute, Margaret Crowley, working next door, who had also been murdered. Margaret had been killed - strangled with a ribbon from her teddy bear - at her flat in Albany Road, Montpelier, in 1981, and for that crime unemployed carpenter Brian Peel had been jailed for seven years. With few clues to go on, police urged all the 'kerb-crawlers' who frequented the St Paul's area to come forward and speak to them. Although it would be in strict confidence and without fear of prosecution, DS Hughes warned that if the response was poor then officers would be forced to seek out the men who roamed the streets. 'We know many of the men who visit St Paul's for the purposes of prostitution,' he warned, 'and if they don't approach us, we are going to have to go to them. But I would like to emphasise that we are not looking to prosecute anyone for prostitution. Our priority is to catch a brutal murderer.' Officers, obviously anxious to fill in the „ details of those 'lost' 70 minutes, were desperately looking for 'clients' who may have picked her up in a car between 11.20pm and 12.30am. DS Hughes said that it was possible that she had made an appointment with a 'client' for later that night. In a new development in these kind of inquiries, the incident room was computerised. In order to try and jog people's memories of that night the police eventually released pictures of the only two clues that they had to go on. One was a shoe - the other was missing and was never found - that the prostitute had been wearing that night, and the other was of a white two to three- ton van, with plain sides and no windows,similar to one seen by witnesses at the spot where she was found stabbed. This vehicle - with damaged paintwork on its offside - had been spotted travelling along the Frampton Cotterell road at about 12.10am that Sunday morning, just minutes before the body was discovered. A similar van was seen on the Iron Acton and Latteridge road junction at about 1.40am. Witnesses said that the driver was a slim man, aged 20 to 40, with short, dark hair and wearing a bomber jacket, and that he had been seen placing a large, white bundle on the ground by the side of the van.. In a new departure, police made a five-minute video film about the murder. As well as including an appeal for information, the video also showed film of the spot where Linda's body had been found, the route she is believed to have taken from St Paul's the previous evening and photos of a white van similar to one seen by witnesses and linked to her death. By July, officers, no nearer to finding the killer, decided to appeal to a wider public by showing the murder re-enacted on TV's Crimewatch. Showing Linda getting into a red Cortina car together with a man with blond, curly hair, and later seen talking to the driver of an Escort-type van, it brought in 120 phone calls. It was all very encouraging at the time, with two 'positive' leads - but ultimately they led nowhere. By early autumn, officers had followed up 3,400 lines of inquiry and taken 1,850 statements from the public. Extensive coverage had been given by the press, radio and TV but still the murder remained unsolved. Despite all their best efforts - and the use of new technology - police have to admit that the victim's vicious killer will probably never now be caught.