Carol Clark: police reopen unsolved murder case from Bristol 1993 following ‘new and significant’ information

Police have reopened an unsolved murder case from three decades ago following “new and significant” information.

Carol Clark was last seen getting into a car in the Montpelier area of Bristol, England, at about 11:30pm on Friday 26 March 1993. She was wearing a black baseball cap, brown leather jacket, blue denim mini skirt, black polo neck jumper, and plain blue t-shirt.

Two days later, the 32-year-old’s body was discovered by a dog walker in reeds and undergrowth near the water at Sharpness Docks on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. She had been strangled in a vicious attack, and her neck had been broken.

Despite Gloucestershire Police launching an extensive, large-scale investigation, Ms Clark’s murderer was never found - and to this day remains at large.

However, officers working as part of the South West major crime investigation team have now received information they say could unlock the cold case.

Det Ch Insp Wayne Usher said: “I have received new and significant information about this case and while I cannot say more at the moment without putting inquiries at risk, it is an encouraging development and one which has all my officers more determined than ever to find Carol’s murderer.

“But I still need the public’s help. Carol lived and worked in a very close-knit community, and it’s likely that some people with information about what happened to her remained silent, perhaps through fear or misplaced loyalty.

“In the time that’s passed since, allegiances and loyalties will have changed, though, so I’m asking those people to search their consciences once again, 30 years after her death, to look at her photo, to think about the impact this continues to have on her loved ones, and help bring the culprit to justice.”

Det Ch Insp Usher urged anyone who may have seen something near the spot where Ms Clark was found to come forward with any and all information they remember.

He continued: “The location was overlooked by the Severn Way and on the weekend Carol was found it was the 200th anniversary celebrations of the British Waterways, so it would have been very busy, with foreign-registered vessels in the dock.

“Maybe you were there at the time but travelled back home without hearing about the case until now. Whatever the reason, if you were there and now recall something, please report it.

He added that his thoughts are with Ms Clark’s family, who have “remained so dignified and quietly determined through the most traumatic ordeal any family could experience.”

In a statement released by police, Ms Clark’s family said: “We are aware that the investigation into Carol’s death is being reopened based on new evidence and that new inquiries are being pursued. We hope that this investigation will allow us some closure.

“We are being updated by police family liaison officers and ask for our privacy to be respected at this time.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the force on 101 or online, quoting incident 264 of 27 March.