Police re-appeal for information 25 years on from brutal triple murder

Husband and wife, Harold and Mary Smith, along with their disabled son, Harold Smith Junior, were found dead in their home on the outskirts of Birmingham on December 2, 1992. All three had been bound and stabbed.

The couple had a daughter who lost her entire family because of the brutal murders.

Police are now re-appealing for information and have said they will use the latest DNA technology to review evidence they hold from the time.

Detective Inspector Ian Iliffe, from the force’s cold case review team, said: “As part of our continual review of unsolved cases, we are taking the opportunity of the 25th anniversary of this most horrific case to appeal to anyone who has kept information they may hold secret for all these years to come forward.

“I can’t accept that the person who was responsible has kept this secret all their life. I believe that they would have shared what they did with someone else, maybe a family member or a friend. If you are that person please come forward.

“There has been massive advances in DNA technology and we will be reviewing all the evidence we hold from 1992 to see if it sheds any light on new lines of enquiry."

The three victims were found dead at their home in Overbury Close, Northfield, having not been seen for two days.

DI Iliffe, added: "Their fate would have been tortuous and agonising. As nothing appeared to have been stolen, the motive for the attack remains a mystery."

The family were well-known in the area and 72-year-old Harold Smith Senior would frequent Northfield on a daily basis visiting places such as the Travellers Rest pub.

His wife Mary, also 72, was devoted to their 47-year-old son, Harold Junior, who had been paralysed 12 years earlier in a car accident. Their bungalow had been adapted to accommodate his wheelchair.

The cold case review team can be contacted on 101 or information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.