THE grieving mother of murder victim Julie Smailes is leaving the North-East town where she has lived all her life after being hit by more tragedy.

Joy Gilmour said she could no longer stay at her home in Consett, County Durham, because there were too many painful memories.

Julie was tied up, strangled and stabbed more than 50 times exactly four years ago today. Her killer has still not been caught.

Since then Mrs Gilmour has suffered the deaths of several members of her family and has decided to move from the North-East.

Julie Smailes, 27, was murdered at her home in Win-grove Terrace, Leadgate, just outside Consett. The murderer then set fire to the house to cover his tracks.

Yesterday, Mrs Gilmour, 52, made one more appeal for anyone with any information to come forward before saying she was convinced the police were closing the net on the killer.

She said: "One day I know they will catch the person who killed my Julie, that the case will be closed. You learn things like you can't get the police to go any quicker or anything - they will do it in their own methodical way. But I firmly believe that they will close this case."

Mrs Gilmour went on to say why she felt she had to leave Consett.

She said: "I still have bad days, days where I still just cannot believe it, where I think 'why Julie?' I remember every shop on Middle Street having a picture of my Julie outside it four years ago. It just seemed beyond belief that it could be my daughter.

"We've had more deaths in the family this year and I feel it is time to go."

The chief suspect in the investigation, John Thompson, committed suicide by hanging himself in 1998.

Thompson hanged himself seven days after the murder of teenage babysitter Rachel Tough at his home in Warwick Avenue in Moorside, near Consett.

His wife, Michelle Thompson, has insisted that her husband was innocent of Julie's murder.

Police have previously stated that they have six priority lines of inquiry of which Thompson was one. Detectives have travelled to Eire, Norfolk and Scotland in their search for the killer.