Murder investigation launched as hunt to find missing woman continues

A missing woman at the centre of a police murder investigation has been named.

Julie Buckley, 54, from the village of Christchurch in Cambridgeshire, has not been seen since late January.

They now believe she is “likely to have come to serious harm”, Cambridgeshire Police said.

A 47-year-old man from Christchurch remains under arrest on suspicion of murder, but police are yet to find her body.

Police declared the case a no-body murder investigation on Friday.

Officers are continuing to carry out inquiries and searches to find Ms Buckley and determine the circumstances around her disappearance, the force said.

Detective Inspector Richard Stott said: “We are trying to piece together Julie’s movements before she disappeared so I would appeal for anyone who has seen her in the past few weeks to get in touch.

“We know she has links to places in the surrounding area including March, Manea and Chatteris so I would urge people who live in those areas to consider if they have information that could be of use to our inquiry.

“We are in touch with family of Julie and specially trained officers are keeping them up to date on the police inquiry at this very difficult time.

“Although we have always wanted to find Julie alive, the circumstances suggest she is likely to have come to serious harm, so we continue to treat her disappearance as murder.”