Esther Soper: DNA hopes fell flat

Saturday is the sixth anniversary of the murder of Exeter schoolgirl Kate Bushell.

But one of the longest running unsolved murder cases on Devon and Cornwall Police files took place in Plymouth in 1976.

Esther Soper, who was 52, was murdered at her home in Mutley.

Police re-examined the case in 1997 - hoping new DNA techniques would help them catch her killer.

Les Bate: Beaten to death

But 27 years after her death, her murder remains unsolved.

The force files are also home to the UK's longest running missing person inquiry.

Thirteen-year-old Genette Tate disappeared whilst riding her bike near her home at Aylesbeare in Devon in 1978.

Twenty five years on Genette is still missing.

Schoolgirl Kate Bushell was killed in November 1997 as she walked a neighbour's dog at Exwick.

Often linked to the Kate Bushell case is the murder of Lyn Bryant.

Lyn Bryant: killed while she was walking near home

She was also walking a dog, near her home on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall.

Police say new DNA techniques mean the net is closing in on their killer or killers.

Police in Cornwall are also working to catch the killer of Les Bate.

The 71-year-old was beaten to death at his remote farmhouse near Wadebridge in April 2002.

Police are also still hunting the murderer of Florence Seccombe, 69, who was murdered at Bretonside bus station in Plymouth in the early hours of Saturday 18 October.

Just a week ago another elderly woman, 74-year-old widow Joan Roddam, was also found murdered at her bungalow near Delabole.

And the hunt for the killer of Graham and Carole Fisher from Wadebridge continues.