Police investigating the murder of a Cornish mother-of-two 20 years ago are now pursuing nine new lines of inquiry after making a public appeal.

Linda Bryant, 40, was stabbed in her back, neck and chest as she walked her dog in her home village of Ruan High Lanes, near Truro in October 1998.

The attack is believed to have been sexually motivated, as Mrs Bryant’s clothing had been disturbed when her body was discovered.

Several reviews of the case have taken place, with one in 2015 resulting in the discovery of new forensic evidence.

Earlier this week retired Detective Inspector Stuart Ellis, the senior investigating officer, made a new public appeal and said his team now had a partial DNA profile of the killer.

Aerial view showing where Mrs Bryant's body was discovered (Devon and Cornwall Police/PA)
Aerial view showing where Mrs Bryant’s body was discovered (Devon and Cornwall Police/PA)

In the first 24 hours of the appeal around 50 calls and messages were received, which has generated nine new potential lines of inquiry.

“The response from the public in the first 24 hours of the appeal has been extremely positive and encouraging,” Mr Ellis said.

“We now have at least nine new potential lines of inquiry which are being progressed, six of which relate to people who may well now be asked to provide a DNA sample.

“We are however still appealing to the public to cast their minds back to 1998 and keep the information coming in to us.

“We have the scientific evidence and all we need now from the public is a name.

“We would urge anyone who has any information, however small, to pick up the phone and call us. That one piece of information could make all the difference.”

Mrs Bryant's car (Devon and Cornwall Police/PA)
Mrs Bryant’s car (Devon and Cornwall Police/PA)

Following the murder, DNA samples were taken from 6,000 people but these had to be destroyed in 2013 due to changes in legislation.

Police are now in the process of re-taking DNA samples and comparing them to the partial profile. So far, hundreds of samples have been taken from across the UK.

The partial DNA profile has also been searched on the National DNA Database but there have not been any matches.

Mrs Bryant was local to the remote part of Cornwall where she lived with her husband Peter, who she had been married to for about 19 years.

They had two children, Lee, then aged 21, and Erin, then aged 19. Lee’s son Keelan was aged 10 months at the time.

On the day of her murder, October 20, Mrs Bryant cleaned a local house, went to see her parents and then bought groceries from a garage.

She returned home and then took the family’s lurcher dog, Jay, for a walk.

A holidaymaker discovered Mrs Bryant’s body, lying in the gateway to a field near the chapel, at about 2.30pm.

The weapon used to attack Mrs Bryant has never been found but is thought to be a small knife, about 10cm in length.

There is a £10,000 reward being offered by Crimestoppers for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Mrs Bryant’s killer.