MURDER victim Audrey Badger made her way home in a taxi with a friend after a party only hours before she was found dead.

Mother-of-five Ms Badger, 42, was found in a downstairs room at her home in Thornaby, Teesside, after the party on Friday night.

Detective Chief Inspector Darren Best said Ms Badger knew her killer. "You should come to us and tell us what you did - before we come to you," he said at a news conference yesterday.

Officers have spoken to the taxi driver who drove Ms Badger and a friend home, but Det Chief Insp Best would not confirm if that friend was a suspect.

He said: "We know Audrey had spent Friday evening with friends at a party. She was at a house with a number of people before she left in a taxi to return home.

"That taxi dropped her and a friend off at her house in Stirling Way, Thornaby, at midnight on Friday.

"We have spoken to that taxi driver, who last saw them walking up the path towards her home."

He said he now needed to fill in the five-hour gap to when her body was found, fully clothed, by a friend at 5am.

A post-mortem examination has been carried out but officers declined to release results, saying it was just one line of their inquiry.

But Det Chief Insp Best said she suffered a violent attack.

Officers said that Ms Badger's children had taken the news of her death badly.

He said: "Although none of her children lived with her, the twins are especially devastated. They are very, very distraught and want a number of questions answered.

"It is imperative that everyone who was at the party, or met up with Audrey in any other way, makes contact with us."

Ms Badger celebrated the birth of her twin daughters in the Press after a neighbour helped with the home delivery, in October 1993.

An incident room has been set up at police headquarters and anyone with information should call (01642) 301333.