FIVE years after Heather Barnett's brutal murder, daughter Caitlin has spoken for the first time about the "earth-shattering day" she found her mother's mutilated body.

Now 16, Caitlin has broken her silence in the hope new evidence will catch the mother-of-two's killer.

Caitlin was just 11 when she returned from school with her brother Terry, then 14, to make the shocking discovery in the bathroom of their Charminster home.

Heather, 48, had been attacked with a hammer-like object and stabbed several times. Her breasts had been cut off with a scalpel and placed by her side.

Terry called 999, saying: "My mum has been murdered. This is not a joke. She has had pieces cut off her - she is dead."

The terrified children ran out into the street screaming for help after making the horrific discovery in their ground-floor Capstone Road flat on November 12, 2002.

Now Caitlin, who lives near Poole, has spoken out after new evidence has emerged from tests carried out on human hair found in her mother's hand.

She said: "The day I came home from school was the most earth-shattering day of my life and the memories will live with me forever. I think about her every day and miss her so much.

"Nothing anyone can do can bring my mum back to my brother and me. But I want people to stop and think.

"If you have any information at all, no matter how small or insignificant you think it may be, this could be the vital clue which helps solve this crime.

"So please, please, think back to that day and if you know anything get in touch with the police."

Caitlin, who is still in full-time education, added: "Everyone believes that his or her mum is the best and my mum was.

"She was loved by everyone who knew her; not just my brother and me, and she always put us first in everything she did."

The new appeal comes as Italian detectives re-opened their investigation into the disappearance of 16-year-old Elisa Claps in Potenza, southern Italy in September 1993.

It is believed Elisa's disappearance is linked to Heather Barnett's death.

A £10,000 reward has been offered by the Crimestoppers Trust for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Heather's killer.

  • If you can help detectives phone 01202 222500 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
  • For full background on this story, see Monday's Daily Echo.