Police investigating the brutal murder of a Perthshire pensioner in her home have issued a further list of potential witnesses they want to trace.
After studying local CCTV systems and interviewing people who were in eastern Strathearn last Monday, the team hunting the killer of 80-year-old Jenny Methven have compiled a fresh group of people who may have been close to her house when she died.
The pensioner, described as a ”pillar of the community” by those who knew her in the close-knit rural area, was killed with a blunt object in the kitchen of her home near Forteviot, near Perth. Her dead body was discovered by her son, David, later that day.
Detective Chief Inspector Colin Gall has led an investigation which saw the village effectively sealed off for much of last week.
He has now launched a fresh appeal for witnesses who could shed new light on the murder. They included specific drivers on the road between Bridge of Earn and the A9.
He said: ”We are getting a lot of stuff and that is encouraging. Some of it is relevant and some isn’t but we are keen to investigate everything because what seems irrelevant to other people could be very relevant to us. They shouldn’t just assume they have nothing important to tell us.
”Hopefully we can speak to these people and bring information out of them cognitively, taking them back to the day and finding out what they saw.
”It’s like a pyramid where you speak to two people and their information can lead you to speak to another four and so on until you get a complete picture. It is important we track down any people in the Forteviot and Forgandenny areas who were near the house that day from 10.30am.”
DCI Gall said he is particularly keen to speak to the drivers of a dark lorry pulling hay bales which passed a bus close to Mrs Methven’s house and a dark Land Rover possibly a Defender model which met the same coach near her house. The bus had to reverse to let that vehicle, driven by a male, pass on the road.
A white Audi may also have overtaken the bus during its journey along the route.
A female driver of a Nissan Micra had to move into the middle of the road close to the house to avoid a fallen branch.
All were on the road at around 2pm, around the time Mrs Methven may have been killed.
Another potential source of information is a male passenger picked up by a Perth-bound bus from the road end of Kildenny farm at 4.30pm.
The man, who was wearing a black hat and light scarf and a dark jacket, has been asked to contact the police.
Others the police had already identified and still wish to contact are passengers on the 17 bus, a man walking a brown dog on the road out of Forteviot heading towards the level crossing at about 10.30 and the driver of a yellow agricultural forklift truck that passed Mrs Methven’s cottage going east at the same time.
Anyone with information can contact a dedicated hotline on 01738 892925 or 0300 111 2222.