THE family of a woman who was murdered have appealed to the Attorney General to allow a fresh inquest into her death.

Jessie Earl was 22 when she went missing from her flat in Upperton Gardens, Eastbourne, in May 1980.

The art student’s naked body was not found until March 1989, in dense undergrowth on the heath above Beachy Head.

Jessie’s bra was found alongside her skeletal remains and her family believes it was used to tie her wrists together.

A post mortem examination in 1989 found the cause of death to be unascertainable and an inquest held four months later recorded an open verdict.

Jessie’s parents, John and Val Earl, have been trying to get justice for their daughter for the past 40 years.

After a review into Jessie’s case in 2001, including forensic and pathology inquiries, Sussex Police recorded her death as murder.

But despite three investigations, including into links with the convicted serial killer Peter Tobin, her murderer has never been found.

Tobin, who is currently serving a whole life order for three murders committed between 1991 and 2006, had lived near Jessie at the time, but police stated there was no evidence to link him with her disappearance.

Jessie’s father John set up a crowdfunding campaign last year to help fund taking her case to the High Court, in a bid to overturn the East Sussex coroner’s 1989 open verdict and for a fresh inquest to be held.

The family’s application has now been received by the Attorney General.

Writing on the GoFundMe page, the 92-year-old said: “Jessie didn’t get herself killed by accident, suicide or anything else.

“She was naked, she had been tied up with her bra. She was murdered. We are in a later year and we need a new inquest. We need to get justice for Jessie.”

Jessie’s parents say the 1989 inquest did not look at evidence which could have led to an unlawful killing verdict.

The couple, who live in south London, believe the case should have been handled as a murder straight away, and said Jessie’s bra “could well have given up the DNA of the killer” had it not been “destroyed” by police.

They said: “It is so wrong to suggest the cause of death is unknown, leaving open a whole range of possibilities, when the obvious explanation stares you in the face — unlawful killing.”

The case was the subject of a documentary in the second series of The Investigator: A British Crime Story on ITV in 2018.