DETECTIVES investigating a seven-year murder mystery will today announce a "particularly significant" development in the case.

Durham Police have arranged a media briefing for this morning to give an update on the inquiry into the death of Julie Smailes.

The move comes six months after the man leading the hunt for Miss Smailes' killers said: "I am firmly convinced we are on the point of an important breakthrough."

Detective Superintendent Harry Stephenson will be at the Press conference at Durham Police headquarters with Miss Smailes' mother, Joy Gilmore, who now lives in Ireland.

Mr Stephenson, who has visited Mrs Gilmore on several occasions to update her on the inquiry, said last night: "We have some important news to announce and some fresh appeals to make."

Miss Smailes, 27, was found dead in her home in Wingrove Terrace, Lead-gate, near Consett, County Durham, on October 30, 1996.

She had been tied up, strangled and stabbed more than 50 times, before her house was set alight to cover the killers' tracks.

Last year, police revealed that a fresh set of laboratory tests was being carried out on partial fingerprints and tiny amounts of blood from the crime scene.

Officers were confident that a new technique of extracting DNA from such small samples could lead them to the murderers.

Mr Stephenson said last October: "We have always thought scientists might one day provide evidence to complete the jigsaw, and we believe that day may now be just weeks away."

Two years ago, a 30-year-old man was charged with Miss Smailes' murder. But the case was discontinued after there was insufficient evidence to proceed.