Detectives hunting the murderers of Julie Smailes today began an inch-by inch sweep of garden in Consett.
Shortly after 8am a specialist search team, armed with military-issue metal detectors, moved into the back garden of a house in Briardale in Delves Lane.
Detective Superintendent Harry Stephenson confirmed police interest in the garden was directly linked to the investigation into the death of Julie, who was found dead in her smoke-filled home in Wingrove Terrace in Leadgate in October 1996.
The 27-year-old, who lived alone, had been repeatedly stabbed and strangled.
Earlier this year police revealed DNA had identified John Thompson as one of those involved in Julie's killing.
Twenty-seven-year-old Thompson was found hanged in a wood near his Derwentside home in August 1998.
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