Police vow to continue investigating Sunderland's longest unsolved murder

The body of Julie Perigo, 51, was found at her blood-spattered home in Kidderminster Road, Downhill, Sunderland, on May 23, 1986, with multiple stab wounds.

Police made the discovery when they forced their way into the mother of two’s flat after a relative became concerned about her welfare.

It triggered a nationwide hunt in which more than 6,000 people were interviewed in connection with the murder of the prostitute and former stripper.

Many of those quizzed were clients whose details were found in personal diaries recovered by detectives.

Three men were detained over her killing although they were all later freed without charge and no further arrests have been made.

Northumbria Police have now said they continue to review and investigate unsolved murders and will re-examine them if new information comes to light.

Julie, a double divorcee, was last seen a week before her slaying and had told a friend that she was due to meet a client at lunchtime on May 16.

But despite the thousands of interviews – which included tests taken after developments in DNA forensics later the same decade – her attacker has still to be caught.

Aside from recent cases still actively going through the legal system, the killing is the oldest of four unsolved Sunderland murders.

The body of seven-year-old Nikki Allan, of Wear Garth, in the East End, was found in the abandoned Quayside Exchange warehouse, in High Street East, 24 hours after she was repeatedly stabbed on October 7, 1992.

Housewife Amina Khatun, 24, was stabbed to death at her house in Manor View East, Concord, Washington, on December 30, 1994, in front of her three young children.

Police are also treating the disappearance on June 23, 2014, of Robert Hutchinson, 56, of Corporation Road, in Hendon, as murder even though a body has yet to be found.

The force’s oldest unsolved murder dates back to January 26, 1919, when John Bianchi was shot in Bigges Main, near Wallsend.

Anyone with information about any of the cases can contact Northumbria Police via the Tell us something page on their www.northumbria.police.uk website.

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