Bonfire Night murder: Still no justice for family of Sheffield woman stabbed 19 times in horror attack

While city families enjoyed bonfires and fireworks displays on November 5, 2001, city woman Michaela Hague was stabbed to death 19 times and left for dead. More than two decades on and the 25-year-old’s killer remains at large.

Michaela’s family and friends have seen police appeals for information, anniversary updates and even Crimewatch appearances over the years, but nobody has ever been charged over Michaela’s death. And there have always been fears that the killer could strike again.

At the time it was one of the largest police probes ever carried out by South Yorkshire Police and took officers the length and breadth of the UK as they attempted to identify the killer.

Michaela was knifed in her back and neck in a frenzied attack on a car park by a man who had picked her up while she was working as a prostitute. She got into a car on Bower Street, off Corporation Street, and was driven to a dark, secluded car park nearby – opposite a pub known then as The Manchester, but which is now The Harlequin.

An old-style blue Ford Sierra was seen driving away from where Michaela’s body was discovered by another sex worker, who raised the alarm. Despite a nationwide hunt for the car and its driver, they were never found.

While paramedics made their way to the crime scene to treat Michaela, she managed to whisper a few words to the first police officer to arrive – PC Richard Twigg. Importantly, Michaela passed on some information about her attacker, including a description, before she was taken to the Northern General Hospital, where she later died.

Michaela, of Lopham Street, Pitsmoor, said her attacker was white, clean-shaven and wore a wedding ring. He was around 38 years old, 6ft tall and was wearing a blue fleece and glasses.

On the tenth anniversary of the murder, Mick Holmes, Michaela’s partner when she died, said he feared the killer would strike again.

“There can be no bigger sin than taking a mother away from her child,” he said. “What he did to Michaela, something so savage, is not the kind of thing somebody just does once.

“I am convinced he has either done it before or will do it again. I just want him locked up.

“I would rest a lot easier knowing he wasn't out there able to do this again. My one fear is he will do it again.”

Michaela, who had a five-year-old son, worked as a prostitute to fund a heroin habit. She had started working on the streets just six months earlier, an inquest heard.

Chris Dorries, the coroner who oversaw the inquest into Michaela’s murder, said he hoped advances in forensic technology would eventually snare the killer. Regular police reviews of serious unsolved cases are carried out.

South Yorkshire Police said in a statement issued previously: “As with any case of this kind, it is subject to review. And with advances in technology and forensic work, we are always looking for that extra vital piece of evidence that can help us solve the crime and hopefully bring some sort of closure for the family – and the killer to justice.”