True Crime Sheffield: How killer of city mum Patricia Grainger has evaded justice for 26 years

It has been 26 years since Patricia Grainger was reported missing by her worried family. Then came the shock discovery a few days later that she had been murdered.

Pat was 25 years old and the mum of a five-year-old boy, Danny, when she was brutally attacked.

Schoolboys playing discovered her body dumped under a discarded bed base at a brook behind homes on Deerlands Avenue, Parson Cross, on August 10, 1997.

She was semi-naked and had been stabbed, strangled and sexually assaulted during her final harrowing moments alive.

Arrests have been made as part of the police probe into her death, but so far nobody has ever been prosecuted over the killing, leading to fears that the murderer could strike again.

Desperate for justice for his mum, Danny launched a website in 2008 called whokilledmymum.com to raise awareness of the murder and to urge anyone with information to come forward to help detectives crack the case.

Cash rewards for information have been put up over the years but to no avail.

In one of his posts on his website, Danny said: “I hope that because of advances in science and technology and with the help of the public one day her killer can be found. I hope someone out there will come forward to help put my mum’s killer away and to let her rest in peace and allow myself and my family to continue living the best we can.

“What happened to my mum as not only taken away her life but taken parts of mine and my family’s life too, by means of grief, stress, depression, anxiety, and hate.

“Justice for mum is all we want and until that day we won’t rest knowing her killer is out there.”

The case is one of a number which South Yorkshire Police’s major incident review team regulars looks at for possible breakthroughs.

Anyone with information about the murder should call South Yorkshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.