Detectives today vowed to continue the hunt for the killer of a British woman who was stabbed 17 times in the chest while backpacking in China.

Sussex Police said they were assisting Chinese police by testing clothing belonging to Shirine Harburn for traces of DNA.

Miss Harburn, 30, from Crawley, was trekking around the Western Sichuan region when she was attacked on a mountain close to the town of Kangding in May 2000.

A team of 100 Chinese officers found her body at the end of a trail of blood in undergrowth 3,000ft up nearby Paomao Hill.

She had been murdered with an 8in knife. Items of property had been stolen.

On the day of her death she had separated from her boyfriend and travelling partner Colin Horsfield, now 29, from Crawley. He was never arrested as a suspect.

Today at an inquest in Crawley, coroner Roger Stone recorded a verdict of unlawful killing and told the family of Miss Harburn, a trained counsellor, the investigation into her death was far from over.

Detective Superintendent Chris Gillings, who returned from China this month after meeting detectives there, pledged to use the latest technology to search for clues about who killed Miss Harburn.

After the inquest, Miss Harburn's family, including her parents Clive and Sheila, and sisters Kiera, 28, and Lianne, 30, read a statement in which they said: "It's just over two years since the person who murdered Shirine changed our lives forever.

"Nothing will ever take away the pain we feel and nothing can ever fill the void that she has left in our hearts.

"Shirine is very much a part of our lives and always will be. We love and miss her terribly and we are deeply distressed that her life was cut short so violently and needlessly."