Police hope witness protection laws can help solve fifteen-year-old murder case

by Daniel Masters. Published Mon 14 Dec 2009 13:40, Last updated: 2009-12-14
Tracey Mertens, who was brutally murdered in 1994
Tracey Mertens, who was brutally murdered in 1994

Detectives believe new witness protection laws could hold the key to unmasking two callous killers in a fifteen-year-old murder case.

Tracey Mertens died from horrific burns after she was kidnapped by two fat, black men and later doused in petrol and set alight on 23rd December, 1994.

Police hope that new laws will mean that people with vital information will come forward, confident that they can now be protected.

A reconstruction and appeal over the killing is to appear on BBC's Crimewatch programme on Monday 21st December.

Det Ch Insp Paul Bailey of Cheshire Constabulary said, "Tracey's was a cruel and painful death.

"There are many unanswered questions and we are hoping that viewers of Crimewatch can provide us with some crucial answers as to why a loving mum, with no known enemies, should have her life taken from her in such a callous way."

While on her deathbed Tracey, a 31-year-old mother of two, gave an account of her ordeal.

Despite 95 per cent body burns she describing how two men grabbed her after she visited a house in Birmingham where she had not lived for five weeks.

The men demanded information about her partner, Joey Kavanagh, who was involved in drugs and admitted owing money.

When she refused to talk she was blindfolded and driven away from the house in Netchells in a yellow Ford Escort.

Her abductors were described as black, aged around 30, with fat and of a big build and both had Birmingham accents.

She was discovered later that day, badly burned, on the steps of a church at Eaton, Cheshire.

She died in the early hours of Christmas Eve, leaving behind children Daniel and Kelly, then 12 and 11.

Det Ch Insp Bailey added: "I firmly believe that there are people who knew in 1994 what had happened to Tracey, why she had been targeted, and who lay behind it.

"The law provides us with many means and measures to support those who provide valuable information in criminal enquiries - measures that were not necessarily available to police forces in 1994.

"Anyone who knows something, can feel confident in coming forward."

Tracey was grabbed when she returned to her previous address in Cattell's Grove, Netchells at 11.30am. Police believe her captors had been watching the house or had been tipped-off.

Information can be supplied directly to the operations team on 0845 458 0000, or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

There is a £30,000 reward for anyone who provides information to the arrest and conviction of Tracey's killers.





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