THE detective leading the search for the killer of 86-year-old Una Crown says her violent murder is one of the most sickening crimes he has ever investigated.

Police revealed today that Mrs Crown was stabbed several times and set on fire during the brutal attack at her home in Magazine Lane, Wisbech.

Det Chief Insp Jon Hutchinson, a policeman for 14 years, said: “This is a sickening attack. We have a large team of investigators working on this around the clock and a number of them are appalled by the nature of this crime.

“This is right at the very highest level of violence I have seen. It is completely unnecessary violence on an 86-year-old woman - a woman who will have been unable to defend herself.

“Every officer that is working on this investigation will do all they possibly can to bring the killer to justice. We will leave no stone unturned.”

Mrs Crown was found dead in her bungalow at 10.45am on Sunday. Her death was originally treated as unexplained but a post-mortem revealed she died as a result of stab wounds to her neck and chest.

The pensioner’s clothing had also been set alight, however the fire did not spread to the rest of the house and self-extinguished.

Det Chief Insp Hutchinson said: “We believe the offender deliberately set fire to the body to disguise the serious injuries and give the impression that it was an accidental fire at the address.”

Mrs Crown had last been seen alive on Friday, but she spoke to a friend on the telephone at about 5pm on Saturday.

The bungalow remains cordoned off as forensic officers continue to comb the property and Det Chief Insp Hutchinson said “thorough investigations along a number of different lines” were under way.

He said: “A break-in gone wrong is one of a number of lines of enquiry and a forensic assessment is still ongoing. That will take several days.”

• Anyone with any information should call the Major Crime Unit on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.