Police head to Italy on trail

Detectives investigating the brutal murder of a West mother-of- two found mutilated in her bathroom, with strands of cut hair placed in her right hand, have travelled to Italy to follow up bizarre hair- cutting incidents.

They have been interviewing 15 women in five Italian towns and taking DNA samples of hair as part of "several lines of specific, detailed and continuing inquiry" into the death of Heather Barnett, who was found dead with her breasts cut off at her home in the Charminster area of Bournemouth in November 2002.

Dorset Police are also renewing appeals replica clothing for help in identifying a man pictured on CCTV near the murder scene and to trace the owner of a training shoe identified from a blood print.

Detectives are also urging women who have had their hair cut in unusual or suspicious circumstances to come forward.

Heather Barnett, 48, was found dead at her Capstone Road home by her two children, Caitlin, then 11, and Terry, then 14, just after 4pm on Tuesday, November 12, 2002.

The seamstress, who grew up in Sturminster Newton, had been hit over the head with a hammer-like object and stabbed several times. The killer cut her breasts off and left them beside her body. Detectives with Dorset Police's Major Crime Investigation Team have been working to track down the brutal killer of the seamstress known to her friends as "Bunny".

Since the start of this week, four detectives have been interviewing Italian women who have reported having their hair cut in unusual or suspicious circumstances. Detectives are due to return to Dorset by the weekend.

A forensic genetic profile of those DNA samples will be produced and compared to the forensic profile of the cut hair strands left at the murder scene, which were not from Heather.

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The Italian women reported the unusual or suspicious hair cutting occurrences after seeing an item about the murder investigation on the Italian version of BBC Crimewatch two years ago.

Detectives are renewing their appeal for help in identifying a man pictured on CCTV in Charminster Road, Bournemouth, on the day of Heather's murder, and in tracing a distinctive Nike "Terra Part Stormy" training shoe.

Superintendent Mark Cooper of Dorset Police said: "The Heather Barnett murder investigation is never closed and we remain as resolute and committed to catching her brutal killer as we were in the days and weeks after Heather's tragic death.

"This is an unusual murder case and the professional and focussed investigation continues
embroidered patches to be a challenge.

"We are utilising the latest advances in DNA genetic profiling and Dorset Police is committed to achieving justice for Heather, her two children and the rest of the family. "We are following several lines of specific, detailed and continuing inquiry and detectives travelling out to Italy this week is just one example of that. We have been liaising closely with Interpol and the Italian police.

"I am continuing to appeal for help in identifying the man pictured on the CCTV in Charminster Road, close to the junction with Capstone Road, on the day of the murder; for help in tracing the owner of a Nike 'Terra Part Stormy' training shoe identified from a blood print of its sole at the murder scene; and for women who have had their hair cut in unusual or suspicious circumstances to come forward.

"Someone, perhaps