DORSET Police used BBC1’s Crimewatch show to help solve Heather’s murder.

A full reconstruction of the day she died was aired on the show in September 2006.

The 10-minute slot was one of the longest and most detailed items ever featured on the programme.

An unprecedented 485 calls were made to Crimewatch and extra officers were drafted in to deal with new leads. Crimewatch took the unusual step of showing the murder for a second time the following month featuring fresh information from the previous programme – including a 17-year-old who had her hair cut on buses in the town.

In total 10 women came forward to say they had their hair cut on buses in Bournemouth.

The following month Det Supt James appeared on the Italian version of Crimewatch Chi l’Ha Visto? to talk about the Heather Barnett murder inquiry and its link with the Elisa Claps disappearance.

More women came forward in Italy about hair cutting on buses.

Detectives also sought to find the owner of the hair which had been placed in Heather’s hand by her killer.

Using an electron microscope, Dr Stuart Black, a senior lecturer in environmental radioactivity at Reading University, carried out detailed analysis of the hair.

He found it belonged to a UK resident who had travelled abroad and changed their diet twice during the three month period before it was cut.

The hair’s owner had first been in the Valencia to Almeria area of eastern Spain and/or the Perpignan area of southern France between 78 and 84 days earlier. Eight to 26 days before the hair was cut, the person was in the Tampa region of Florida. Despite numerous appeals, the owner of the hair was never found.