Lyn Bryant murder: New appeal 25 years after stabbing

Lyn Bryant had been stabbed a number of times in a prolonged attack

Police have renewed their appeal for information over the unsolved murder of a mum 25 years ago.

Linda 'Lyn' Bryant was stabbed to death while walking her dog near her home in Ruan High Lanes, on the remote Roseland in Cornwall, on 20 October 1998.

Her killer has never been caught and police are sure someone has vital information to help solve the case.

Crimestoppers has offered a £20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the offender.

The farm gate where Mrs Bryant's body was found on 20 October 1998

Mrs Bryant's body was found in a field gateway between Ruan High Lanes Methodist Chapel and Treviles Manor at about 14:30 BST.

The 40-year-old had been stabbed a number of times in a prolonged attack.

• Listen: DCI James Dowler on the long-running murder investigation

The case is one of the longest running murder investigations in the history of Devon and Cornwall Police.

Police have obtained a partial DNA profile of the killer and have been testing samples from thousands of people across the UK.

They are also trying to identify three unknown men seen in the area at the time of the murder:

• The bearded driver of a scruffy white car-derived van who was on the forecourt of Chenoweth's garage at about 13:05, at the same time as Mrs Bryant

• A clean-shaven man in his 30s seen talking to Mrs Bryant between 13:45 and 14:00. This was the last known sighting of her

• A clean-shaven man wearing "normal clothes" who was seen by a farmer walking through a field, away from the murder scene. The farmer said this was very unusual

The white van was seen following Lyn when she drove away from a garage shortly before her death.

Mrs Bryant's glasses were found at the scene of her death on 2 February 1999

More than 6,700 similar vans have been eliminated from the enquiry.

Det Insp Rob Smith, from the force's Major Crime Investigation Team, said: "For 25 years the family of Lyn Bryant have lived with this terrible loss and uncertainty.

"However, time has not diminished our commitment to bring the killer to justice and to give the family some peace."

He added that the force constantly reviews the case against new scientific techniques and the national DNA database.

"We now need the public to give us the name of anyone they suspect had involvement in Lyn's death so that we can match the DNA."

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].