The new evidence which could hold the key to solving 30-year murder mystery

Detectives need to look urgently at new evidence about Ann Heron's unsolved murder before it is too late for her elderly husband.  That's the view of a criminologist who has spent the last five years looking into the mysterious case.  Ann was killed at her home, near Darlington, in 1990. The 44-year-old's throat was cut as she sunbathed in her garden.  Five years later her husband, Peter, was arrested on suspicion of her murder.  Although the case against him was dropped, the now 86-year-old has lived not only with the heartache of losing his wife, but with the cloud of suspicion hanging over him for the past 30 years.  Now crime expert Jen Jarvie, who has been voluntarily investigating Ann's murder on behalf of her family, said she has obtained new evidence that could link Ann's death to on the run convict Michael Benson.  And she is today urging Durham Constabulary to look into her leads so that Ann's murder can be solved, and Peter's name cleared once and for all.  Jen, from Wynyard, Teesside, said: "I'm 100% confident Benson is a viable suspect. Obviously we can never be 100% certain until Durham Constabulary look into it.  "Peter is somebody who couldn't possibly have done it, because he has a provable alibi. And at the age of 86 he needs this resolving soon. He's lived with this for 30 years and you couldn't meet a nicer guy."  Ann had her throat cut at her home, Aeolian House, on the outskirts of Darlington on August 3, 1990.  The mum-of-three had been sunbathing in a bikini on the hottest day of the year. Her body was found in a pool of blood by Peter, a haulage firm operations manager, when he returned home.  Although colleagues confirmed that Peter had been at work a mile away when Ann was killed, giving him what Jen has described as a "cast-iron alibi", he was arrested and charged after cold case detectives reopened the case in 2005.  The finger of suspicion was pointed at him soon after the murder as police discovered he had been having an affair with a barmaid at his golf club.  And new DNA techniques found Peter's DNA on Ann's body.  But the case collapsed before it went to trial due to lack of evidence.  Jen, a respected university lecturer in police procedure, began re-examining the brutal slaying on behalf of Ann's family, free of charge.  And she believes she has now obtained 'compelling' evidence that Benson, who died in 2011, could be the real murderer.  After Ann's death someone claiming to be 'The Killer' sent sick letters to her family, the police, and Darlington-based newspaper The Northern Echo.  At the time detectives said publicly that they believed the handwritten notes had come from the killer, and were not a hoax, said Jen.  And last week Benson's ex wife, Ruth Bennet, was shown one of these letters by The Sun newspaper, and confirmed it was his handwriting.  "Obviously Peter is elated that people are realising that it's not as cut and dried as it was made out to be," said Jen.  "We have a lot of evidence which