THE hunt for the weapon used in the murder of Julie Smailes has been called off.

A specialist police search team spent last Wednesday and Thursday digging up a garden behind a semi-detached council house in Briardale, Delves Lane, near Consett.

Officers leading the inquiry would not say if a weapon had been recovered, but said several items had been taken from the garden.

Det Supt Harry Stephenson, said: "Further items have been recovered as a result of the work. They will be forwarded to forensic science laboratories for detailed examination."

Sales manager Julie Smailes was found dead in her home in Wingrove Terrace, Leadgate, near Consett, in October 1996.

The 27-year-old, who lived alone, had been repeatedly stabbed and strangled.

The murder weapon was never recovered. The search team was called in to look for the knife that killed her, after a tip-off to detectives. The house attached to the garden was once the home of Emma Kennedy, a close associate of the man police believe killed Miss Smailes, 27-year-old John Thompson, who hanged himself in 1998.

Officers from Durham's Major Crime Team, led by Det Insp Neil Redhead, spent last Thursday interviewing new witnesses they believe have key information.

Last Friday they re-interviewed existing witnesses in light of their new findings.