RARELY has a day gone by in the last 45 years when Tony Oliver’s thoughts have not strayed back to one of Suffolk’s grimmest and most perplexing unsolved murders.

In January 1967 the dismembered body of his 17-year-old brother Bernard was discovered in two suitcases under a hedge in Tattingstone, by farm worker Fred Burggy.

The macabre find began an inquiry which became known nationally as the Tattingstone suitcase murder.

Next month will be the 45th anniversary of Bernard Oliver’s disappearance after leaving his home in Muswell Hill, north London. Ten days later his body was found 70 miles away in two suitcases. It had been expertly dissected into eight pieces.

Tony Oliver, who was only 13 at the time, said he is still haunted by his brother’s death today.

Speaking about the case for the first time, the 57-year-old, who lives in Majorca, said: “It will never go away. I will die with this.

“I have dreams all the time of things that happened, listening to Bernard talking, going to the pictures, him being there, and I wake up and there’s no one there. I can’t forget.

“Bernard was such a considerate and harmless person. He would never, never, never be rude to anyone. It took a lot for Bernard to get riled. He wasn’t the sort of person to be aggressive or anything of that nature. I just can’t understand it.”

Before his death, Bernard – who was one of six children and had learning disabilities – was sexually assaulted

Bernard went missing on January 6, 1967, and his dissected body was found on January 16. At the time police did not have a clue about his identity and put out a national appeal.

Tony said: “Those ten days seemed a very long ten days.

“The last time I saw Bernard he was going off to the pictures. He didn’t come home that evening. It seems Bernard was there one minute and then just disappeared.

“My father said ‘I know Bernard will be home’. Bernard was growing up normally – drinking, friends and the rest of it. My father said ‘don’t worry – he’ll be home’.

“Christopher (another brother) and I were both getting worried after around four days.

“Christopher and I went swimming on a Friday evening and when we came home my grandparents on my father’s side were there, along with my brother-in-law.

“There was a picture in the paper which police had released, and looking at it, I remember my grandmother asking me ‘do you think this is Bernard?’, and I said yes.

“I knew straight away it was Bernard. I just had this horrible gut feeling. I didn’t need to be told. I just knew.

“I suppose out of all my brothers and my sister, Bernard and I were probably the closest.

“I respected Bernard and idolised him in many ways. We shared the same bedroom. We looked after each other.”

Detectives from Suffolk and Scotland Yard were hampered enormously in their inquiry, which saw 100,000 statements taken, as no crime scene was ever found.

The case was reported for years afterward by local and national media and one newspaper even put up a �50,000 reward.

All of this was to no avail and the impact onMr Oliver’s family was immense. His parents, George and Sheila, never got over Bernard’s murder and died in the 1980s when both were in their 70s.

Tony Oliver said: “It was terrible. I don’t think any family could come to terms with that sort of murder.

“My father wouldn’t talk about it and when he did it wasn’t for very long. It was very difficult for him to discuss it.

“My mother was very religious and was so devastated. She never, ever got over it.

“She told me the last time she went into hospital before she died, she had never got over Bernard.”