Senior police officer reassures villagers after murder

The small rural community was rocked by the discovery of the body of mother-of-three, Clair Ablewhite, at a property in Hall Lane, shortly before 6.30pm on Saturday.

The 47-year-old suffered stab wounds in the attack, which is thought to have happened on Friday night or the early hours of Saturday morning.

A 48-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder but has now been released under investigation as enquiries continue.

Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin, who has years of experience in investigating murders and serious crime in his career with Nottinghamshire Police, has liaised closely with detectives and kept abreast of all the lines of enquiry.

He said today: “My instinct and experience tells me that at this stage there is certainly no cause for wider alarm in the community.

“My thoughts are very much with Clair’s family and specially trained officers will continue to work closely with them as the investigation progresses.

“I completely understand how an incident like this will have shocked the local community, which is a very quiet rural area where violent crimes, particularly of this nature, are extremely rare.

“But I would like to reassure people that the investigation is moving at pace with a team of experienced detectives following up a number of leads.

“As you would expect we have deployed a huge amount of specialist resources into this from Nottinghamshire and the region.”

“Local residents can expect to see lots of police officers in the area - uniformed officers and detectives.

He added: “The investigation is still in its very early stages but there is lots of activity taking place and many lines of enquiry are being pursued, including CCTV, forensic examinations and searches and we are speaking to lots of people who are providing very helpful information.

“All of this is helping us piece together what happened.”

ACC Griffin added that he believed there may still be people who have not yet come forward who could have information that could help the investigation.

“Were you in and around the area on Friday night and the early hours of Saturday?” he said.

“If you knew Clair, did she confide in you or share anything that could be relevant?

“If you have the slightest bit of information, even if you think it might not be relevant, please let us know because we will leave no stone unturned.”

Anyone with information is urged to call police on 101, quoting incident number 669 of February 26, 2022, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

An online portal at https://mipp.police.uk/operation/33EM22E38-PO1 can also be used to report information relating to the incident.