POLICE officers who brought a killer to justice 15 years after he murdered a young mother have been honoured.

Mark Weston was convicted in December of killing Vikki Thompson in west Oxfordshire in 1995, 14 years after he was initially cleared.

The breakthrough came after Thames Valley Police’s major crime review team found vital new evidence when they investigated the case again.

It was the first time in Britain that fresh forensic evidence had been successfully used under the ‘double jeopardy’ legislation within the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

Double jeopardy was the long-established legal principle that someone could not be tried twice for the same crime.

However, the Criminal Justice Act 2003 swept that aside, allowing prosecutors to seek permission to retry a defendant if new evidence came to light.

On Thursday, Thames Valley’s Det Supt Barry Halliday, Det Sgt Lynne Nelson, Dc Andy Roberts, Mark Schollar and retired Det Chief Insp Pete Beirne, along with Denis Burke from the Crown Prosecution Service at Cowley, received commendations for their “exceptional work”.

Thirty-year-old Mrs Thompson had left the family home in Chestnut Drive, Ascott-under-Wychwood, to walk the dog at about 4pm.

More than three hours later she was found covered in blood and fatally injured beside a railway track off Shipton Lane.

Tiny splatters of Mrs Thompson’s blood on 35-year-old Weston’s footwear were missed by forensic scientists during the original police investigation 15 years ago.

But the odd-job man was caught after their discovery and the addition of newly admissible evidence of his semen on a pair of bras found at the scene.

Mr Halliday said: “Weston’s conviction came as a result of hard work and developments in technology. We didn’t give up.”

The team received their commendation certificates from Chief Constable Sara Thornton at a ceremony at Drayton Park Golf Club, near Abingdon.

Mr Burke was honoured for his “support, guidance and expertise”.

Ms Thornton praised the team for their “exceptional” work.

She said: “This investigation had to deal with issues concerning the provenance and integrity of exhibits seized in 1995, managing the concerns and expectations of Vikki Thompson’s family, and finally successfully negotiating a path through new and untested ‘double jeopardy’ legislation.”

Philip Balderstone, 42, who works on the collision investigation team at Bicester Roads Policing, received a long service award after working for the team for 22 years.

He said: “I feel honoured.

“It can be a very rewarding job but can also be quite difficult.”