Two decades after her stepmother was murdered, Debbie Simpson has written an impassioned poem to the killer urging him to give himself up. Paul Cook reports.

IT’S 20 years tomorrow since Ann Heron was stabbed to death at her home on the outskirts of Darlington.

Despite a huge police manhunt, and several good leads, Ann’s assailant has never been found. Her tragic case has become one of the region’s most notorious unsolved murders.

On the eve of the terrible events that changed her life Ann’s stepdaughter, Debbie Simpson, has appealed directly to the killer: “Give yourself up – bring this to an end.”

Debbie believes the killer may be someone her family once knew.

“Bring this to an end” are the final words of a poem entitled “To whom it may concern”.

Debbie has written the poignant and powerful poem on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the killing in the hope of reaching out to the killer. She said: “I want the person who killed my stepmother caught and brought to justice.

“The poem is an accurate summary of the case, dealing solely with facts, not conjecture, which, if people are genuinely interested in the truth surrounding this case, can be verified via archived records in the local library.

“I want people to focus on the poem and the facts. I would like to think that whoever killed Ann is reading this and finds the courage to end it now for his own sake as well as ours.”

Ann, 44, was killed at about 5pm on August 3, 1990 – the hottest day of the year – when she was stabbed in the throat.

She had been sunbathing at the family home, Aeolian House, on the A67 between Darlington and Middleton St George.

At about 5.05pm witnesses reported seeing a blue car, driven by a man described as dark haired, suntanned and in his early 30s, speeding down the drive and joining the traffic on the busy A67.

Ann’s body was found by Peter, her husband and Debbie’s father, in the living room when he returned home from work. Neither the car, nor the driver, were ever found.

Mr Heron, now 75, has been the only person ever arrested in connection with the case – in November 2005.

The Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case against him three months later.

Debbie said it was to the disappointment of Mr Heron who pressed for the case to go to trial to clear his name.

She added that her father had lived with the cloud of suspicion hanging over him ever since, which will not go until the real perpetrator of the crime is found and convicted.

She said: “It can’t have been easy for the killer living with the murder all these years, particularly since the case against dad was discontinued, and with the renewed impetus under the authority and direction of the new senior investigating officer (Chief Superintendent Andy Reddick) in charge of the case.”

The poem summarises every stage of the case from the initial murder through to the sighting of the blue car speeding down the drive of Aeolian House, the extensive search and appeals to find the car and the driver, the arrest of Mr Heron through to the present day.

She fast forwards to today for the final five verses to tie-in the 20th anniversary. It concludes with a line indicating her belief that the killer was known to the family and may possibly once have been close enough to call “friend”.

The family have always believed that Ann knew her killer.

Only someone close to the family, who knew her movements and those of her husband, would have known that she was alone at the time of the murder.

Debbie said: “I speak on behalf of all of Peter Heron’s family and friends that we will never stop fighting to find Ann’s killer.

“We want justice for Ann – and justice for Dad.”