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MURDER hunt detectives have made a fresh appeal to find the brutal killers of a Birmingham mum who was burnt alive on the steps of a church.

Detectives from Cheshire Police featured on last night’s Crimewatch programme in the latest bid to find Tracey Mertens’ killers.

The mum-of-two was snatched from her old home in Nechells by two men days before Christmas 1994, blindfolded and driven to a church in Cheshire, where she was doused in petrol and set alight.

Her family had moved from Birmingham to Rochdale the previous month but Tracey returned to her former address in Cattells Grove on December 23 to collect a benefits book.

She was there for just ten minutes when her abductors pounced, forcing her into a yellow Mark II Ford Escort with one silver panel.

The 31-year-old dinner lady was found with 95 per cent burns to her body almost five hours later in the graveyard of Christ Church, in the village of Eaton, near Congleton,

She managed to tell police some of what had happened before dying on Christmas Eve.

Det Sgt Steve Currie, of Cheshire Police, said officers needed a potentially vital witness to come forward.

“A man walked past as the men were forcing Tracy into the car,” he said. “He was heading toward the Weighbridge MoT Depot near Cattels Grove. At the time she would have been struggling and in great distress.

“This man has never been traced. We believe he is vital in helping us with our enquiries and urge him to get in touch.”

Ms Mertens described her abductors as two black men in their early 30s, both overweight and wearing brown leather caps and thigh-length leather jackets.

The case was reopened after advances in forensic technology gave detectives a DNA profile of the killer. They followed up more than 100 pieces of information when the appeal last featured on Crimewatch in 2010 but none of them provided a breakthrough.

Police also offered a guarantee of protection for anybody who came forward with information.

A police reward of £30,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction remains unclaimed.

* Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555 111.