DETECTIVES investigating the murder of Witney couple Peter and Gwenda Dixon have found a shotgun which may hold clues to the killing.

The 51-year-old marketing manager and his wife were enjoying a camping holiday near Little Haven, Pembrokeshire, in 1989 when their killer blasted them to death with a shotgun on a coastal path.

Police recovered a shotgun from a lake near the home of a 53-year-old man being questioned about the death of the Dixons and another couple. His garden was also searched.

The man, who is being held at Haverfordwest police station, is also being questioned in relation with 60 other offences.

Last month BBC's Crimewatch programme highlighted the unsolved case and police set up an incident room to field hundreds of calls from members of the public.

The Dixons' son Tim, 35, a worker at Harwell Laboratory, backed the programme and said he hoped renewed interest in the case would lead to an arrest.

Police discovered the bodies of Mr Dixon and his wife, who lived in Moorland Road, hidden in undergrowth after they were reported missing in July 1989.

Mr Dixon's hands had been tied behind his back.

A scruffy cyclist dubbed the Wildman was seen using Mr Dixon's card at three cashpoint machines shortly afterwards but extensive Dyfed-Powys Police inquiries drew a blank.

Several months later police arrested two suspected IRA members and discovered a cache of explosives near the scene of the killing.

This led to the theory that Mr Dixon may have stumbled on a terrorist operation.

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