Patricia Grainger: Son's heartbreak as hunt for killer who murdered mum in Sheffield continues 25 years on

Patricia Grainger was killed on August 10, 1997, but despite a number of police appeals and rewards offered through the years nobody has yet been jailed over her murder.

She was 25 years old when her body was found dumped under a discarded base at a brook behind homes on Deerlands Avenue, Parson Cross.

The mum-of-one, who had learning difficulties, was from nearby Buchanan Road and had been missing for a number of days before her body was found by children playing in the brook, known as Sheffield Lane Dike or Tongue Gutter.

She was semi-naked and had been stabbed, strangled and sexually assaulted.

Posting ahead of the anniversary of her death earlier this week, her son Danny, who was just five years old when she was killed, said the ‘inhumanity of those responsible is still unthinkable’.

“She endured a remorseless attack at the hands of someone she may have known and trusted, with no f***s given to the fact she was vulnerable,” he wrote.

“The Inhumanity of those responsible is still unthinkable 25 years later.”

He added: “There's no doubt her murder was sexually motivated, and this person may have distanced themselves from the fact that she is human, and (she) was used as their plaything and tossed aside like some rubbish to die.

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“I know there is no remorse felt by this person/people, and they have continued to live a normal life alongside a sadistic fantasy led life (I do pray they have directly suffered in some way).

“This person could be your neighbour, your employee, your friend, your partner. They will have a sinister dark side. I'd be surprised if you haven't seen it already.

“If you have any doubts, suspicions or know anything about who may be responsible for Patricia Grainger's murder, it's never too late to come forward.

“Forensic work is still ongoing (since July last year) and hopefully one day and one day soon justice will be got for mum.”

Danny runs a website, www.whokilledmymum.com, on which he campaigns for police action over the murder.

Anyone with information can call South Yorkshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.