The parents of Michelle Bettles have expressed their hope the latest DNA breakthrough will finally catch her killer.

John Bettles and Denise Taylor said someone being brought to justice would finally bring closure to the family, including her three now grown up children.

Speaking to BBC Crimewatch Live as part of a fresh nationwide appeal for information, Mr Bettles said: “I imagine sitting with Denise and saying it is all over. Then we can just go on living a normal life.

“We have not lived for 20 years. It never leaves you. We’ve served a sentence that somebody else should have been serving.”

The couple, who live in Leicestershire, said their daughter had been cruelly and abruptly taken, robbing her of a future in which she had hoped to go to university and of her children ever getting to know her.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t think about Michelle. She was Denise’s daughter and my daughter and I want her to be remembered that way,” he added.

“We come down on her birthday and on the anniversary of her death. We have to pass Podmore Lane where Michelle was found. I always know when we get nearby like a magnet that guides me to her.”