POLICE have confirmed there will be no new investigation into the murder of Stourbridge newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater after calls were made to re-open the case following an explosive TV documentary.

There had been calls for Staffordshire Police to consider re-opening the investigation following the screening of Channel 4's Interview with a Murderer last June in which former suspect Bert Spencer spoke candidly to Birmingham City University criminologist Professor David Wilson in the programme about the 1978 shooting at Yew Tree Farm, Wordsley, which remains unsolved.

The documentary saw Spencer’s former wife Janet, speaking for the first time on record in 40 years, telling programme-makers she believed her former spouse could have been the killer and rejecting his alibi of being at work all day.

She said re-opening the case into Carl’s death was “the only course of action now”.

Spencer’s daughter also admitted she thought her father may know more than he’s ever let on about what went on that day at Yew Tree Farm, off the A449.

Spencer himself, a former ambulance officer who spent 15 years in jail for the shotgun killing of friend Hubert Wilkes, also confessed his whereabouts for the day of the murder could not be corroborated but he insisted he was at work at the time Carl is believed to have been shot and he has vociferously denied killing the schoolboy.

But – after carrying out a detailed review of the case including revisiting forensic evidence – Staffordshire Police have today confirmed there “are no new investigative opportunities and as such no new suspects” – adding: “Therefore, there are no grounds to interview Hubert Spencer at this time.”

A statement issued by the force said: “Having reviewed the programme alongside the previous investigations and review material, only one new witness has been identified.

“This person has been interviewed by detectives and cannot offer anything to progress or assist this investigation.”

Four men, who became known as the Bridgewater Four, were initially tried and found guilty of the murder of Carl, but after almost two decades in prison their convictions were overturned.

Police say there have been 14 separate reviews of the case carried out in the last 39 years, including a number of independent enquiries carried out by other police forces.

And a spokesman added: “Unsolved crimes of this nature are never closed and our victims of crime are never forgotten.

“Our thoughts are very much with Carl’s family and we continue to offer our support to them.”