VIKKI THOMPSON was cruelly murdered in 1995 but her case went unsolved for 15 years.
The young mother's killer, Mark Weston, evaded justice when he was acquitted of the crime in 1996 but, years later, new evidence and a change in the law saw him finally locked up in prison.
Who was Vikki Thompson?
Vikki Thompson was murdered in 1995 when she was 30 years old.
She lived in the village of Ascott-under-Wychwood, near Oxfordshire, England, with her husband Jonathan.
The couple had two young children, Matthew and Jenny.
She has also had a dog, Daisy, who she was walking when she was killed.
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What happened to Vikki Thompson?
Vikki left her home at around 4pm on August 12, 1995, to walk her dog, Daisy.
Sadly, she never returned.
While walking Daisy, Vikki was bludgeoned over the head with a rock by killer Mark Weston.
Vikki had caught Mark masturbating down a country lane.
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After attacking Vikki, Mark dragged her body across a field and placed it on the railway line in an attempt to make it look like she had been hit by a train.
Daisy the dog made her way home on her own, raising the alarm for Vikki's husband.
Over three hours after she had left home, Vikki's neighbours – who had joined Jonathan in the search for her – found her.
Vikki was still alive at the time.
Prosecutor John Price said at a trial: "There was a lot of blood.
"She moved, and in the minutes that followed, her husband having arrived at the scene and before Mrs Thompson could be taken away by air ambulance, she was able to speak, though not in any coherent fashion.
"She was not able to say what had happened to her, nor was she able to say who was responsible."
Vikki was taken to hospital with severe skull fractures and a severe brain injury.
After six days, her life support machine was switched off after her brain stopped functioning.
Weston was arrested for Vikki's murder but he was acquitted in 1996 and the crime went unsolved for many years.
When police decided to reopen the investigation in 2008, they found specks of Vikki's blood on Weston's boots.
The boots were re-examined by two scientists, using microscopes and halogen lamps that had not been available in 1995.
A damning text message from Weston to his ex-girlfriend was also discovered in the investigation.
The message read: "I killed her and I would do the same to you".
Due to the double jeopardy law, which prevents a person from being tried again for the same crime, police were initially unable to re-try Weston.
A 2005 change in that law, however, led to Weston being found guilty and he was the first criminal to be jailed using new forensic evidence following the change.
On December 13, 2010, Weston was jailed for life with a minimum of 13 years.
Vikki's husband, Jonathan, said at the time that the change in the law had been "crucial in achieving justice".
It was later revealed that Weston had allegedly tried to strangle his girlfriend Helen Rusher, who was mother to his daughter, in 2003.
It was reported that Miss Rusher reported him to the police, and told them that Weston had confessed to killing Vikki.
Following his 1996 acquittal, Weston was convicted of harassing two other local women.
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He was given a conditional discharge in 1997 after harassing a neighbour.
Then, in 1999, he received a two-year probation order for harassing a police officer and his wife and children, making 50 silent phone calls to their home.
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