£20k reward offered for murder probe information

William McNicholl's family previously told the BBC he had a "heart of gold"

A reward of up to £20,000 is being offered in exchange for information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the murder of a man in Suffolk.

William McNicholl, 63, known as Billy, was found at a home on Hawthorn Drive, Ipswich, on 1 January, but police believe he was killed on Christmas Day.

Preliminary results from a Home Office post-mortem examination indicated the cause of death as being from head injuries and a single stab wound.

Phil Breckon, regional manager of Crimestoppers, the charity offering the money, said: "If you have information please speak up and tell us 100% anonymously."

Suffolk Police believes Mr McNicholl may have known the person who entered his home and attacked him

The reward, only payable for information passed directly to Crimestoppers, rather than the police, will expire on 30 April.

"If you prefer not to talk to the police, you can tell us what you know, and we'll pass it on for you," added Mr Breckon.

"We are independent of the police and won't ask for any personal details, there'll be no police contact or witness statements, and you won't have to go to court.

"Nobody will know you contacted us."

Crimestoppers is now offering anyone with information which leads to the conviction of Mr McNicholl's killer a cash reward

In the weeks following Mr McNicholl's death, a woman in her 50s and then a 17-year-old boy and were arrested on suspicion of murder before each being released on bail.

Police previously said the last sighting of the "cheeky geeza with a fun sense of humour" was on 23 December, but he had been on social media on Christmas Day.

"We don't have anything post that," admitted Suffolk Police's Det Supt Mike Brown.

"What we don't have is any sign of a forced entry but there is a hypothesis that Billy knew or had an association with the person that and attacked him."