The cryptic Christmas card that may hold clue to five year-old murder

South Yorkshire Police officers investigating the death of Nora Tait were last year sent a card which read: "To the Nora Tait Murder inquiry team - Keep up the good work x - I might know a little something or nothing - I will be back in touch after Christmas."

Today, on the fifth anniversary of Ms Tait's death, Detective Superintendent Neil Jessop asked for the author of the card to come forward and issued a fresh appeal for any information on the attack, for which a clear motive has still not been found.

Ms Tait, a retired seamstress, was found dead at her home in Stone Close Avenue, Hexthorpe, Doncaster, on October 13 2005. She had been murdered the previous day.

Mr Jessop said that on the day she died, Ms Tait had visited Doncaster Royal Infirmary before going shopping in the town centre.

She then caught a bus from Doncaster to Hexthorpe, arriving there at around 1pm.

Before returning to her home, she is believed to have bought fish and chips from Lucky Mei takeaway.

But she never got the chance to eat her lunch before the "horrific attack", Mr Jessop said.

Ms Tait was found dead a day later, having sustained a number of blows to the back of her head which left her with severe skull fractures.

Standing outside Ms Tait's former home, Mr Jessop said it was possible she knew her attacker and added: "There is no clear motive for the attack on Nora, although it is believed that Nora's black purse that may have contained around 100 was missing from the house."

He said he was still determined to bring Ms Tait's killer to justice and said he would particularly like to hear from the person who wrote the card sent to officers at Christmas last year.

He added: "I am appealing to the author of this card and anyone else out there who has any information that may assist in our ongoing inquiries to come forward and contact the investigation team on 01709 443465, I can assure you that the information you give will be treated with the strictest confidence.

"Alternatively you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."

Jayne Watson, Ms Tait's daughter, was also at today's appeal and described the devastation her family had experienced since her mother's murder.

She said: "Five years on and our family are still living this horrific loss.

"It feels like such a short while since we were told that our mother had been murdered. This in itself was shocking and extremely hard to comprehend.

"We were a normal family, leading normal lives where things like this just don't happen to you.

"To be told how this had happened, in the middle of the day, in her own home was totally incomprehensible."