Murder victim Betty Yates 'may have known killer'

Detectives hunting the murderer of a retired teacher from Bewdley have received two anonymous letters claiming to reveal information about the tragedy – as they revealed the pensioner may have known her killer.

Betty Yates was stabbed in the neck and beaten with a walking stick at her cottage off Dowles Road on January 4.

Police today lifted the cordon around the 77-year-old's cottage and opened up the mile-long track to the property.

Det Ch InspNeil Jamieson today said it was a "possibility" that Mrs Yates knew her killer and that there was little sign the isolated £300,000 cottage had been broken into.

But he said he could "not rule out" that she had disturbed an intruder.

When officers found Mrs Yates' body at 9am on January 4 the doors had been locked and the blinds had been drawn. Her house keys and purse are still missing. The two letters that police have received are both typed and are believed to have been written by two different people, neither of whom are thought to be the killer.

Mr Jamieson would not reveal any details about their contents but said they had "opened up two new lines of inquiry". One was delivered by post to a local police station while the other was dropped in by hand to the Major Incident Unit in Stourport.

Mr Jamieson today appealed for the authors to contact police as they may be able to provide some more "vital" information. He added that there were "a number of people" that detectives still wanted to speak to.

Forensic experts were still scouring the interior of Mrs Yates' cottage today.