Children who found mum Lorraine Turner dead in Norwich 21 years ago plead for help to find killer

A son and daughter who found their mother dead at the bottom of her stairs more than 20 years ago said they had been "haunted" by it ever since, as they pleaded for help to find her killer.

Police launched a murder investigation on 17 August 2002 after former journalist Lorraine Turner was discovered at her home with head injuries.

Two months later, a 21-year-old man was charged but the case never made it to court and police were unable to establish what had led to the 37-year-old mother's death.

Now her two children - who found their mum's body while visiting her home at Desmond Drive in Norwich - have urged anyone with information to speak out in the hope the killer can finally be found.

Jasmine, who was just eight at the time, said she and brother Jordan, who was 10 in 2002, had been "haunted" by the discovery ever since.

"The hardest part is there's no closure," she said. "I do not know why or who.

"But someone does, and I would appear to anyone whose loyalties may have changed over the years to come forward.

"Our mother is not coming back and making this appeal may be one of the very last things me and Jordan are able to do for her."

Ms Turner, who worked as a press officer for Norwich City Football Club after leaving her job at Eastern Counties Newspapers, would have been a grandmother to four children by now.

Her daughter urged anyone with information to "clear your conscience".

"I want to appeal to anyone who has been keeping a secret for 21 years - this is the time to get rid of your guilt," she pleaded.

"Twenty-one years with no answers is an extremely long time, and unfortunately you have no alternative but to toughen up and get on with it.

“There are four children who do not have their grandmother and the story that comes with that loss is so brutal. It is a huge burden, but we will never give up fighting for her.

"At this point 21 years later all we can emphasise is that it’s time that the truth comes out."

At the time, police said they believed Ms Turner had been dead for at least a day before her body was found. A post mortem examination concluded she had died from severe head injuries.

Norfolk Police cold case manager Andy Guy said the case remained open and said "there are questions to be answered".

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