Note may be 'significant' to 1993 cold case murder

Detectives investigating a cold case murder from 33 years ago have released new images of a "hugely significant" note the victim left before she went missing.

The body of Carol Clark, from Bristol, was found strangled and partially clothed in reeds and undergrowth at Sharpness Docks in Gloucestershire on 28 March 1993.

She was last seen alive getting into a Volvo car on Picton Street in the Montpelier area of Bristol at about 23:30 GMT on 26 March 1993.

"It's our responsibility to Carol and her family to try and get justice for her death," Det Ch Insp Wayne Usher from Gloucestershire Police said.

According to Usher, Carol, 32, was "very vulnerable" at the time of her murder as she suffered from substance abuse and had turned to sex work to fund the habit.

Hours before Carol left the house on 26 March, she wrote a note for her boyfriend that said she was heading out to find work, but planned to be home by 02:30 the following morning.

The note appears to read: "Left again at 1.30 to go to the top of the road. If I have no work by 2 o'clock I will come back down at 10 past 2 if not and I get some work I will be back at 2.30pm. Can't wait to see you darling love you Carol XXX."

Police said she had "a number of clients" in the local area and would follow the same routine of meeting one, returning home to drop the money off and going out again to meet another client.

They added that she was witnessed carrying out her routine near Picton Street "on a number of occasions" that evening.

Usher said the note made it clear that Carol had intended to return home and meant that she "certainly" found another client at about 02:00 on the Saturday morning.

"That's significant because from that point on we only have a couple of other sightings in Gloucestershire, so is that the person who brought her to Gloucestershire?

"Is that the person who was with her throughout Saturday 27 March? And is that the person who ultimately killed her?" he added.

Carol was last seen wearing a black baseball cap, a brown leather jacket, a blue denim mini skirt, a black polo neck jumper over a plain blue t-shirt and cowboy boots.

When her body was found by a dog walker two days later, she was only wearing her underwear and the boots, and her neck had been broken.

The rest of her clothes have never been recovered.

A large-scale murder investigation was launched following the discovery of her body, and several reviews of the case have been carried out over the years since.

Detectives uncovered "new and significant" information in 2023 and reopened the investigation.

A witness responded to a previous public appeal and told police they saw a woman matching Carol's description walking along the Berkeley bypass with two men.

A 69-year-old man from Gloucestershire and a 48-year-old man from Lincolnshire were arrested on suspicion of her murder years ago and remain under investigation, but no charges have been brought against them.

Police also investigated a 66-year-old man from Newcastle but ruled him out of their inquiries.

Speaking ahead of the 33rd anniversary of the day her body was discovered, Usher said police are doing "everything possible" to solve the case.

"This is very much a live investigation. We're pursuing new lines of investigation, we're reaching out to those who we suspect are involved, we're looking and speaking to those who are connected to those people," he said.

"We continue to search for every answer possible to try and identify Carol's killer."

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