Family appeal 20 years after murder of Lucy Hargreaves

The family of mum-of-three Lucy Hargreaves – who was murdered 20 years ago this Sunday – have issued a fresh picture as Merseyside Police appeal for information that could help convict her attacker.
 
Lucy was just 22 years old when she was murdered in her home in Walton on 3 August 2005.
 
This year, on 7 July, Lucy should have been celebrating her 42nd birthday. Instead, her family were left marking yet another birthday without her.
 
In the early hours of 3 August 2005, Lucy was asleep on the sofa when three men burst into her home on Lambourne Avenue, Walton. 
 
They shot Lucy, as her two-year-old daughter and the child’s father were asleep upstairs, and then set fire to the home.
 
A total of 21 people have been arrested in connection with the investigation, but nobody has yet been convicted for Lucy’s murder.
 
Lucy’s family have issued a photograph not previously shared with the public, taken at a college she had attended at the site now occupied by Merseyside Police headquarters at Rose Hill.
 
Lucy expressed her hopes for the future in a caption that accompanied the image on a wall at the college. It read: “I’m really enjoying the course. I want to work with computers in the future. 

Also, the creche being next door is great for me as a single mother as my two (eldest) children go there while I am training.”
 
The family of Lucy Hargreaves have issued the following appeal: “It’s been 20 years since we lost Lucy and we miss her every single day. 
 
“The way we lost Lucy is not something families can ever truly come to terms with – it is still incredibly difficult and painful to think about.
 
“We are a private family who do not encourage publicity, and we have always conducted ourselves with dignity.
 
“Merseyside Police have asked us to contribute to a fresh appeal to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Lucy’s death and to support the current review into her murder, which is being 
conducted by a team at Merseyside Police who review unsolved murders.
 
“A comprehensive review began two years ago and is currently ongoing. 
 
“We, Lucy’s family, would like to take this opportunity to thank her neighbours in Lambourne Road and the people of Walton and Norris Green for their support in coming forward in the immediate aftermath of Lucy’s murder. 
 
“Their witness statements were crucial in enabling Merseyside Police to show the vehicles that were used in her murder.   
 
“Over the past 20 years people will have talked with family and friends. A number of people were contacted by males using a phone that was stolen along with a vehicle used in Lucy’s murder. 
 
“A vehicle used in Lucy’s murder had been stolen a week before the incident, along with a mobile phone which was used shortly after the theft to contact a number of people.
 
“The people who received those calls, along with others, could have information which could be crucial in achieving justice for Lucy, her parents, sister, children and all her extended family and friends.
 
“We appeal directly to them to please come forward. Now is the time.
 
“We welcome the focus in recent years on violence perpetrated against women and girls, and we want to ensure that any man capable of such violence are brought to justice so that other families can be protected from the pain that we have endured for 20 years.
 
“We consider ourselves to be an ordinary local family with strong roots in the Walton, Norris Green, Croxteth and Dovecot areas of Liverpool.
 
“Lucy’s nanny Joyce was a strong mother of eight who had to cope with the loss of three granddaughters in her lifetime – including Lucy. Her nanny Betty, left a widow aged 35 with six children to bring up, was awarded the British Empire Medal for her services to nursing as an auxiliary nurse in the Royal Liverpool Hospital. Betty was active in her church Queen of Martyrs in Croxteth and was a Eucharist Minister. 
 
“They were two strong local women typical of their generation, and Lucy too was a strong woman who could have achieved so much had she only been given the opportunity.”
 
Shortly after the incident, a gold Lexus car, registration NAD499, was found burnt out in Richard Kelly Drive, Clubmoor.
 
It is thought a number of males dumped the car before running in the direction of Normandale Road, and detectives continue to appeal for anyone with any information on the car’s movements before the incident and anyone connected with the vehicle.
 
Howard Rubbery, Head of the Serious Case Review Unit, said: “It is now 20 years since Lucy was taken from her family in the most brutal of circumstances.
 
“After carrying out the killing, the offenders ignored the cries of a toddler upstairs as they poured petrol around the house and set fire to it.
 
“Their callous and reckless actions could have claimed the lives of two more people that night, had they not escaped the flames by jumping from a window upstairs.
 
“We are as determined as ever to get justice for Lucy, whose death robbed her family of a loving mother and daughter.
 
“As with any unsolved murder, time is no barrier to our pursuit of justice for Lucy and we appeal to anyone with any information, no matter how small it may seem, to contact us.”
 
Lucy’s family added: “We greatly admire the determination and guts of the families of those who have more recently been killed as a result of gun crime here in Merseyside.
 
“The mums of both Ashley Dale and Olivia Pratt Korbel have led a real and powerful community challenge to men of violence.
 
“Ellis Cox was killed just a few hundred metres from the scene of Lucy’s horrific murder, and his mum and aunt have proved to be two more strong women giving a clear message to those 
who have information to come forward to achieve justice for Ellis.
 
“We want to others to listen to these strong women and find the strength to come forward with any information that could help achieve justice for Lucy and Ellis.”
 
Anyone with information should contact Merseyside Police social media desk via X @MerPolCC or on Facebook ‘Merseyside Police Contact Centre’. You can also report information via our website: https://www.merseyside.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/ or call 101.
 
Alternatively, contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, or via their website here: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/forms/give-information-anonymously In an emergency always call 999.