Cold Case Review

1. Under the Freedom of Information Act, please tell me the last time there was a cold case review into the murder of Brenda Evans, 17, at Poulton, Cheshire, on October 7, 1977. 
2. Do police have any active lines of enquiry into the case? If so, please can you share any of this information. 
3. Has there been any attempt to extract the DNA of a suspect from Miss Evans' clothing or possessions? 
4. If so, did this prove fruitful and has the DNA profile been run through the national DNA database? 
5. Were there any matches or close familial matches? 
6. Has any action been taken based on this knowledge - eg has anyone been questioned, or arrested, have any DNA samples been requested from an individual or individuals? If not, why not? 
7. Do police have any suspects in mind, even if you can't identify them publicly? 
8. When was the last time the police were in contact with the family of Miss Evans? What was the reason for making contact?

In accordance with section 1(1) (b) of the Act our response is provided below;

Question 1. The last review was opened in May 2010.

Questions 2 to 7. Please see below.

Question 8. On 29th January 2008 , the mother and sister of the deceased Brenda Evans were visited and updated.

In relation to Questions 2 to 7. The Cheshire Constabulary can neither confirm nor deny that it holds the information that you are requesting. To give a statement of the reasons why neither confirming nor denying is appropriate in this case would itself involve disclosure of exempt information, therefore under section 17(4), no explanation can be given. To the extent that section 30 (1) (a) applies, the Cheshire Constabulary has determined that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exclusion of the duty to neither confirm nor deny outweighs the public interest in confirming whether or not the information is held.