A YEAR on from human bones being found in the village of Kempsey the case of a missing woman still is unsolved.

And police have said there are no updates regarding the case of missing Brenda Venables.

In July last year this paper was the first to report villagers had been left shocked by the discovery of human remains at a property in Bestman’s Lane.

The bones were discovered during a routine emptying of a septic tank at Quaking House, owned by the Venables family, and police later revealed they were the remains of an adult woman.

Villagers were quick to connect the find to the disappearance of the farmer's wife who went missing in the early hours of May 4, 1982.

At the time her husband David Venables spoke of his desperation to find her when he spoke to this paper. Two days after she went missing Mr Venables told us he had been waiting anxiously by his phone, hoping for news.

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“I just woke up to find that she had gone,” he said.

Mrs Venables’ name was later added to her parents’ gravestone, which is in the graveyard at St Michael’s Church in Rushock.

Her year of death is recorded as being 1982, and a family source told a national newspaper this was done as a way of remembering her, despite the absence of a body to bury.

At the end of the July last year there was another dramatic development as police announced Mr Venables had been arrested and questioned on suspicion of murder.

He was released just a day after the arrest, on July 31.

Last December police said they had finished DNA testing of the bones, but did not confirm the remains found were those of Mrs Venables.

And since then the investigation has gone quiet, with the disappearance of Mrs Venables still remaining one of the county’s biggest mysteries.

Councillor David Harrison, who has lived in the village for more than six decades, said: “I would want to see this one solved, but it is like any police investigation, it is very difficult to get closures on some cases.”

A West Mercia Police spokesman confirmed there was no further updates, but the investigation remained ongoing.

The spokesman said one current line of enquiry was looking for aerial photographs from the time. The spokesman added an 86-year-old man was released under investigation, and that still remained his status.