DETECTIVES investigating the murder of 80-year-old Jenny Methven will meet today amid concerns that there has been no "vital breakthrough" in the case – despite high profile pleas for information.
Several officers from Tayside Police will gather to discuss progress in the case, which has been described as one of the biggest in the force's history.
Mrs Methven was attacked in her cottage in Forteviot, Perthshire, on February 20.
She was found slumped over her kitchen table by her 57-year-old son David.
However, despite an intensive investigation, it has been revealed that senior officials are already preparing for the possibility that the case is likely to take months, rather than days, to solve.
A source said: "We are working with a wealth of information which has been provided to us by the public, but the single breakthrough piece of the jigsaw has not shown itself yet.
"It is already beginning to look like there is not going to be a quick arrest and that it is far more likely to be a long, drawn out process. "
Detective Chief Inspector Colin Gall, who is leading the investigation, said: "It is fair to say that this is one of the biggest enquiries ever seen in Tayside."
The meeting comes as it was revealed that a painstaking forensic search of the cottage had uncovered 400 items of potential interest to the investigation.
The search of the property has been going on for more than a week and the hundreds of productions will now be subject to laboratory analysis.
Almost 80 officers have been dedicated to the investigation.
Support has also been provided by the National Policing Improvement Agency, biologists, pathologists and the Scottish Police Services Authority.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article