On January 22, 1993, 76-year-old pet shop worker Arthur Brumhill was found brutally beaten to death in the basement of Denton's Pet and Garden Centre in Northampton.
Arthur's body was found by a co-worker, covered in straw. Investigators later revealed he had 26 injuries, most likely from a tyre lever which had been discarded from the scene.
The gruesome findings of the "gentle" and "timid" father's body sparked a murder investigation that is still open to this day.
Thirty years on from the mysterious murder, Northamptonshire Police have issued a fresh plea for "anyone with information" to get in touch.
Detective Chief Inspector Adam Pendlebury, told The Mirror: "Nearly 30 years has passed since the death of Arthur Brumhill and I want to reassure his family and the local community that it still remains an active investigation led by my team in Major Crime.
"Arthur's body was found on January 22, 1993, in the basement of Denton’s Pet and Garden Store in Wellingborough Road, Northampton. He had been beaten to death.
"Losing a loved-one in this way does not dull over time and I know there will not be a day that goes by in which Arthur's family do not feel his loss.
"30 years is a long time and loyalties and allegiances can change in this period. There will no doubt be someone out there who knows exactly how Arthur died so please come forward and help us provide his family with some much-needed closure.
"Anyone with any information can call us on 101, quoting Op Nemesis, or by calling Crimestoppers completely anonymously on 0800 555111."
Here we take a look at the unexplained mystery and what has happened since.
The night before Arthur's body is found
Business owner Arthur Brumhill had officially retired, but his love for animals drew him back to work in a pet store part time.
His daughter Sue would later describe him as a "kind", "gentle" and "quietly spoken" man with a "great sense of humour". Arthur was a much-loved member of the community.
He had worked at the pet shop for 11 years, and for two weeks in January 1993 he was looking after the store while the owners were away.
Arthur had been working late on January 21, which wasn't unusual for him. He helped his final customer at about 5.30pm, and began cashing up, but around four hours later at 9.30pm a driver passing by spotted the lights were still on, and said he saw two men inside the shop.
He said it looked like the shopkeeper was speaking to someone he knew, who he described as looking like someone in his late teens with mousy brown hair, and around 5ft 5. This was the last time Arthur is known to have been seen alive.
Another witness claimed to have seen a suspicious-looking man hanging around outside the shop at around 10.20pm. He was described as a slim man in his early 30s, around 5ft 10, with short dark hair, wearing a fluorescent yellow road workers jacket.
Arthur Brumhill's murder
On the morning of January 22, 1993, several other witnesses claimed to have seen a suspicious looking man in a yellow tracksuit in the nearby area.
Most descriptions agreed that he looked like a man in his mid-30s, between 5ft 11 and 6ft, with blonde hair, wearing a yellow tracksuit.
One man who was on the way to buy a newspaper even said he had spotted a man of the same description throwing something away. After going to the shop, he said he saw the same person with what looked like blood on his tracksuit.
At 8.30am, an unsuspecting shop assistant at Denton's Pet and Garden Centre began his shift, and saw something horrific. As he went down to the basement, he found the lifeless body of Arthur, by the stairwell, covered in straw.
At the time, Detective Superintendent Bob Thorogood said that the murder weapon was believed to be a tyre lever, which was missing from the shop. It had been used to beat Arthur to death, leaving him with 26 injuries, including a skull fracture.
Police initially suspected Arthur's murder had been part of a robbery, especially as a small amount of money was taken, but the problem with this theory was that there was no evidence of forced entry.
It was possible Arthur let the person in because he knew them, or that they had come in through the open window upstairs. Outside the window they had found a boot print, which it is thought the murderer left on the way out.
A few weeks after the murder, his daughter Sue told Crimewatch: "Obviously it was such a great shock to my mother and myself and the rest of the family. We're coping but we are in a sort of limbo simply because, until the person who did this is caught, we can't have a funeral. We're just about coping but it's very difficult."
Police appealed for any information about the suspects, and two anonymous letters that were sent, through a Crimewatch episode – but no further developments were made.
Murder trial
The case remained open, and 22 years later new methods of investigation led to what police thought would be a breakthrough.
Evidence was re-examined, and with more advanced testing abilities, it was thought it might be possible to find the killer.
In 2015, two of the fingerprints of former shop-assistant Stuart Jenkins were found on the bag of straw which was used to cover Arthur's body. Two other fingerprints were also found, but they were unable to identify them.
Aged 41 at the time, Stuart, who worked at the shop aged 17 through a youth training scheme for six weeks in 1992 but left because "he failed to impress his employer", was arrested.
The former army sergeant was originally arrested in 1993 after allegedly telling a friend he committed the murder, but was released without charge. At the time he told police it had been a joke.
In March 2017, he was charged with Arthur's murder and taken to court. According to Stuart, he hadn't returned to the pet shop since leaving in November 1992. About Arthur, he had said: "He was a nice old man, but he was not someone I would go and visit."
The prosecution pointed to the fingerprints that were found, and alleged that the killer knew where to find the cash float that was taken, and also suggested Stuart had a set of keys cut for himself while he worked there.
The prosecution also claimed that Stuart had confessed the murder to two different people, but he denied this. He said he had spoken to his former partner, but only to say it was scary when police spoke to him in 1993.
However, the defence team called the evidence "flimsy", and reminded the jury that Stuart could have left fingerprints on the bag in question when he worked there. There was also the question of the unidentified fingerprints found on the bag.
Defence barrister William Harbage QC said: "It's not as simple as the prosecution are trying to make out.
"There are a lot of alternative explanations here. There are a lot of unknowns."
He also told the court that another robbery took pace just yards away on Wellingborough Road that evening, with witnesses seeing two young boys running away from the scene, and an older man in a high vis jacket being spotted.
He said: "Could it have been one of those people? If it could, then you cannot be sure Stuart Jenkins did this."
Stuart pleaded not guilty, and was eventually found not guilty on all charges by a jury at Northampton Crown Court and acquitted of Arthur's murder. Stuart has always maintained his innocence.
Jenkins told the press at the time: "I'm relieved. It's been a long two years. It's been two years of not knowing where you are."
His wife Louise added: "We do hope they get justice," in relation to Arthur's family.
DCI Louise Hemingway, who led the investigation, said: "I'm really disappointed for Arthur's family. They have waited for 24 years.
"There was definitely enough evidence to bring it to trial. It was the right thing to do for Arthur, for his family and in seeking justice.
"This was an awful murder. If we do get any opportunities to investigate [further] we will."
In 2018, retired detective Bob Thorogood, who led the original investigation, said that it was harmed by a lack of witnesses and "too many suspects".
He said that there were "quite a number of people who could have been involved, but in the end transpired not to have been". Various witnesses came forward with different descriptions of people, but apart from Mr Jenkins, no one was arrested.
Mr Thorogood told the BBC: "From the very start, it was difficult," he pointed to a "chaotic" crime scene, pointing to the fact that Arthur's body was covered in straw, and a large empty plastic bag was still present on top of a rabbit hatch near his body. In addition to this was the open window, and small amount of money that was stolen.
He added: "The person I feel most sorry for is Arthur's daughter, who has kept in touch with me over the years, even since I've retired, in the desperate hope that she will see justice for her father."
The case remains open and unsolved.
If you do have any information that could help with this case, you can call 101 quoting Op Nemesis, or by calling Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
