The mum of a young woman who was strangled and dumped in a carrot field has spoken of her frustration after "not seeing a police officer for years".
On August 6, 1994, the naked body of 23-year-old Julie Finley was found by a cyclist near the A540 Rainford Bypass. Her killer had made no attempt to conceal her remains.
The brutal murder has never been solved and in 2018 her heartbroken dad, Albie Finley, went to his grave without seeing justice. More than quarter of a century on, Julie's mum Pat Finley, 77, says she now shares the view of her late husband who often lamented how her "case file was gathering dust on a shelf".
READ MORE: Neighbours wanted a 'quiet night in' before car crashed into house
She told the ECHO: "It was so important to him to get justice for Julie. He had all Julie's pictures and all these little mementoes next to him. He would always say 'looks like we're getting no justice for you girl'.
"I would at least like justice while I am still alive."
Pat says she has not spoken to a police officer for several years, and questions have been raised in reports recently about why a suspect - convicted serial killer Christopher Halliwell - has not been charged.
Swindon taxi driver Halliwell, 58, murdered Becky Godden-Edwards, 20, in January 2007 and buried her body in a field. But she was not discovered until March 2011, when he was arrested by Wiltshire Police over the murder of office worker Sian O’Callaghan, 22, in Swindon.
According to the Mirror, Merseyside Police opened an investigation into Halliwell in 2020, but no charges have followed as yet. Pat said: "I don't think they have been down to interview him. I haven't seen a police officer in years, it drives you mad."
Julie was last seen alive at around 10.30pm on August 5, 1994, near the Royal Liverpool Hospital. She was talking to a white man, of average build, aged in his 20s or 30s.
A witness who came forward at the time said he saw a young woman arguing with a man at about 12.30am on August 6 outside the Wheatsheaf public house in Rainford, just yards from where her body was found. The unknown man was attempting to force the young woman into a white Transit van.
Halliwell was allegedly living in the area at the time and was known to drive a white Transit van, according to other witnesses.
Speaking about her daughter, Pat said: "I knew she was on the drugs; I had a talk to her about those people she must have been kicking about with. But she was a nice girl, a good kid.
"I think she was between 17 and 19 when she got into drugs, I remember she had a lot of jewellery and suddenly that went, that sort of thing. She began losing more weight, and she was always slim.
"On the Friday before she was found she had a shower in this house and then told me 'I will see you on Sunday for my dinner'. On the Saturday I got a phone call, 'have you heard from our Julie, she's not turned up, is anything wrong?'
"I wasn't even dreaming that anything was wrong, then on the Saturday night the police knocked on the door. I don't really recall what was said, honest to God, I didn't believe it.
"I got my other daughter to come with me and I knocked on every door of people who knew Julie. It was like I was floating on air, I kept thinking she was going to come in later that morning."
Pat said she has always believed Julie's killer was not from the city. She said: "I said right away no-one in Liverpool has done that. I knew right away it was an outsider, I thought maybe a lorry driver or someone who has picked her up and then that was the end.
"I know 100% no-one from Liverpool killed her. We have spoken to everyone who knew Julie, someone would have slipped up by now."
Describing Julie in happier times, Pat said: "She was a big lover of music. I have got her tapes upstairs of her favourite music, things like Phil Collins she loved. She went to a college in Garston to do hair-dressing, she got me in to do modelling.
"She had her own hair gorgeous as well. I loved her and I miss her."
In 2014, on the 20th anniversary of her death, a Crimestoppers appeal was launched with a £20,000 reward for information. Merseyside Police said they were searching for a woman calling herself Tina, who told officers Julie had said she was going to see a taxi driver from Prescot, about 10 miles from Aughton Park where Halliwell was living, on the night she vanished.
However after initially speaking to officers in the aftermath of the case and promising to get back in touch, Tina was not heard from again.
A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: "Merseyside Police conducted an investigation into the murder of Julie Finlay in August 1994.
"This case is subject of biennial reviews and these reviews take into account developments in forensic technology. We have and will continue to liaise with other forces where appropriate, in an effort to bring Julie’s killer to justice."
A Wiltshire Police spokesperson told the Mirror last month: “Since Christopher Halliwell was arrested for the murders of Sian O’Callaghan and Becky Godden-Edwards in 2011, Wiltshire Police has and continues, where relevant, to work with other forces across the country to ensure information is shared with them which may be pertinent to their investigations.
“More widely since 2016, the Force has run a distinct operation – Operation Major, which has looked to nationally coordinate across forces information concerning Christopher Halliwell. Wiltshire Police has now commissioned an external review of Operation Major, to ensure all reasonable lines of inquiry have been pursued to date."
READ NEXT:
