Police determined to get justice for family of murdered man found on Ashfield farmland

Police have identified the remains found as those of Pinxton man Alfred Swinscoe, who had been missing since 1967, after DNA testing with members of his family confirmed a match.

But while the victim has now been identified, police and the family have now appealed for the public’s continued help to provide information as to what happened on the night Alfred died and find out who killed him.

The length of time that has passed has raised the real possibility that those responsible may themselves also now be dead.

But Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin, of Nottinghamshire Police, said this would not affect the investigation in any way.

He said: “That does not affect our search at all, this is about getting justice for a family and we will approach this investigation as if it were a crime that happened today.

“However, we fully accept the suspect or suspects in this case are very likely to be at least in their 70s, probably into their 80s.

“We have a specialist team of investigators working on this case and we are deploying on to this investigation the same calibre of experienced staff we would have on any homicide investigation and all their skills and capabilities will be put to full use.

“I’m confident we will explore every single line of enquiry to get to the the truth.”

Mr Griffin accepted documents on the original investigation from 1967 were not extensive and much of the paperwork from then has not been transferred into the new digital records.

But he added there were still files to use and archive material that could help them

He said: “That is just one line of enquiry we are pursuing.

“Of course, if there were a nice neat and tidy bundle of papers and boxful of evidence we could find, that would be helpful and that might yet still exist, but we haven’t been dragging our heels and there are plenty of other lines we are actively pursuing.”

At this stage, there is no definitive cause of death as post-mortem investigations on the bones are continuing and there is also no definitive date of when Alfred was killed.

However, Mr Griffin said: “What we do know is that Alfred was so well known in Pinxton in 1967, his sudden disappearance would have been spoken about.

“I would expect and his family would expect that anyone who lived in that area, and certainly those who frequented that pub, will be familiar with, if not the date and the day, they will be familiar with the event and that is the nature of the appeal.”

In terms of motive for the killing, Mr Griffin said they were retaining an open mind.

He said: “That’s what this appeal is all about, anybody who holds any information about Alfred, who he associated with, whether anybody held a grudge against Alfred or wished him any harm, anything like that, we would like them to come forward.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the incident room by clicking here or alternatively, you can call the incident room on 0800 096 0095.