They won’t get away with it

LAURENCE WINSTANLEY

Mother vows to never give up hunt for son’s killers

THE mother of a man whose body was found dumped in a reservoir 20 years ago, has said she will never give up trying to catch his killers.

Laurence Winstanley (23) went missing in Oldham on October 2, 1988, and was found dead in Batings Dam Reservoir, near Ripponden, nearly a year later.

He had been shot in the head, his hands severed and his body was wrapped in a curtain and weighted down by a pickaxe head.

Yesterday, Vanessa Winstanley (70) made an emotional appeal for information at Halifax police station, in West Yorkshire, as Crimestoppers offered a £10,000 reward to catch those responsible for her son’s murder.

Mrs Winstanley, a mother of four, who has moved away from Shaw, said her life had been consumed by Mr Winstanley’s death.

“I’ve never let it go, I’ve worked really hard to bring these people to justice,” she said. “They’ll never get away with it, with my last breath I will keep plodding on.

“It alters your life completely, there’s never any good any more. It’s one long struggle.”

She added: “You do things because you have to keep going. Only for my other children I would be dead now, I would have committed suicide.”

Mrs Winstanley said she was offering £25,000 of her own money, in addition to the Crimestoppers’ reward, and had conducted her own “review” of her son’s murder, walking the streets where her son lived and handing out leaflets.

Pleading for information, she said: “Please come forward, I know it must be frightening because it’s just awful to think what they did to him and you must be frightened, but please, please come forward and give me some peace.”

Mrs Winstanley described her son’s killers as “rubbish of the earth”.

She described her son as “mischievous” and “helpful” and said she was not aware of him having any enemies.

Det Supt Colin Prime, of West Yorkshire Police, appealed for information at Baitings Dam Reservoir, where Mr Winstanley’s body was found on September 26, 1989.

Mr Prime said: “We’ve reviewed the case and I’m convinced there’s information out there held by people that could assist us in unlocking this mystery.

“I’m hoping that the reward will prompt people to come forward but also that the circumstances will prick someone’s conscience.”

Anyone with information can contact the review team on 01924-292456, or Crimestoppers on 0800-555 111.