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Dr Peter Acland was the pathologist called to the scene of Marie Wilks' murder in June 1988.

He told ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Hereford and Worcester that the way crime scenes were handled was very different 20 years ago:

Scenes of crime officer

"In those days the pathologist would come along and probably be the first person to go up to the body to examine it.Ìý

"He would have gloves on but he wouldn't necessarily have much in the way of protective clothing.Ìý

"These days the pathologist would probably be the last to go up to the body.Ìý

"It would be the scenes of crime and forensic scientists, and everybody would have a high degree of protective clothing, the white suits you see on the television, hats and masks and so on - all of this to prevent cross contamination."

DNA evidence

DNA analysis, such a key part of any crime investigation today, was in its infancy 20 years ago.

Dr Acland believes that there should be no problem using the evidence collected 20 years ago, provided that it has been looked after probably:

"As long as the samples have been kept in the right conditions, there's no reason why they shouldn't provide valuable clues now.Ìý

"The biggest advance is in DNA analysis… In those days you needed quite a large sample of blood or other biological material, nowadays you need a very minute specimen.

"With a minute specimen you can almost duplicate it, like a photocopier, and build it up to a much larger specimen, and with that larger specimen you can then analyse it.

"It's not so much the science that the problem, it's the human beings, it's the interpretation, and the storage etcetera.

"If you've got a specimen from a scene, and you keep it together with other specimens from others scenes, then there's the problem of cross contamination.Ìý

"Also there's the problem of interpreting the results when you get them – does this result really mean that the person with the DNA has been at the scene, or has it been transferred via something else?"

In a statement West Mercia Police said that a forensic review into the Marie Wilks murder case is planned for the future, and that this is normal for any major unsolved investigation.

It remains to be seen whether a 'cold case' investigation, and advances in forensic technology can finally bring the killer of Marie Wilks to justice.