15 January 2008
WE ARE SURE KATE WAS MURDERED - DETECTIVES
Police now believe missing farmer Kate Prout was murdered.
Officers have refused to rule out the possibility the 55-year-old from Redmarley may have come to harm.
They say the possibility she has been murdered is stronger than ever.
Although investigations at her Redhill Farm home finished a fortnight ago it is understood specialist sniffer dogs used in the search for missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann in Portugal have been used in the investigation and found evidence of Mrs Prout's death.
Det Supt Neil Kelly said specialist dogs had been used but could not comment on what was found.
Mrs Prout disappeared on November 5 last year. Mrs Prout vanished from her home on Bonfire Night, but her husband Adrian did not report her missing until November 10.
A 45-year-old man, believed to be Mr Prout, was arrested in connection with the case and remains on police bail.
Acting Det Supt Neil Kelly said that Gloucestershire Police had gathered no evidence to suggest she was still alive.
He said: "A very thorough search of the land surrounding Mrs Prout's home has been concluded but the investigation remains very much open. Despite exhaustive efforts, however, we have unfortunately not discovered any evidence to suggest that Mrs Prout is alive and that she disappeared of her own volition.
"We fear, therefore, that either some harm has befallen her accidentally or that she has been murdered. Had the former occurred, we believe it likely that she would have been discovered by now, and as a result, we fear more strongly than ever that she has been murdered."
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