Police will be out in Colchester tonight on the four-week anniversary of the murder of James Attfield to speak to people about his death.

Mr Attfield had been stabbed over 100 times when he was found in Lower Castle Park in the early hours of March 29. He died shortly afterwards.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Werrett, said: “We will be out in the town centre and will also have officers in Castle Park from 6pm to 6am to speak to people about James’ death.

“We know James was drinking in the River Lodge pub until around 10pm but his movements after that point have not been established. It is likely that many of those out tonight will have been in town on the night leading up to James’ death and by speaking to them directly we hope to jog their memories about events on that fateful evening.

“We also have a number of e-fits of people we would like to identify and a number of CCTV images and we will be showing those to people to see if they can assist us with names.

“The mobile police station will be set up in the High Street and North Hill area with officers on hand so that anyone with information can approach us as well.

“The investigation is continuing to progress but we are still building up a complete picture of James’ movements between the evening of Friday, March 28 and the time he was found just before 6am on Saturday, March 29 with more than 100 stab wounds in Lower Castle Park.”

Mr Attfield had died at the scene a short time after he was discovered.

Three individual people caught on CCTV walking through Lower Castle Park late on Friday, March 28 and into the early hours of Saturday, March 29 have now been identified and eliminated from enquiries. A further 20 people have yet to come forward.

In particular police are very keen to gather more information about a group of three people seen in CCTV images 5 and 5a that were previously released.

They want to hear from anyone who saw this trio at any time during the evening but in particular between midnight and 2.15am.

Officers are also still trying to trace a couple who were seen sitting on a bench in Lower Castle Park close to the lake at 11.30pm on Friday, March 28.

The man is described as white, of stocky build and appears tall with long legs. The only description of the woman is that she is white. They were sitting at opposite ends of the bench and it is not certain if they know each other, although they may have been a couple who had had a row earlier in the evening and were sitting apart not talking to each other.

Approximately 10 metres away from where this couple were sitting, there was also a man sitting on the grass who was white, aged in his 30s and was wearing a dark jacket and possibly jeans. This may, or may not, have been James Attfield.

On Wednesday, April 23, a 27-year-old man from Colchester was arrested in connection with the murder. He and a 27-year-old woman, also from the town, are now on police bail until Friday, May 9 pending further enquiries.

A reward of up to £5,000 has been offered by Crimestoppers for information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person, or persons, responsible.

Anyone with information is asked to call Essex Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.