A Yorkshire murder mystery took a sensational twist today when the brutal killing of a grandmother was linked to a man's death nearly 12 years ago.

Detectives investigating last summer's rape and murder of 59-year-old Winnie Deighton at Bridlington say inquiries have revealed an unexpected connection with the death of Michael Knight in 1986.

Police believed there was nothing suspicious when Mr Knight's body was found at his Harrington Road home on the West Hill estate in May, 1986, six weeks after he died.

A post mortem found he had died from inhaling his own vomit and no witnesses came forward to alert the police to anything untoward.

But now Detective Inspector Peter Morris, who is investigating the murder of the Bridlington widow, says: "There is a link between the two deaths, although there is no evidence to suggest the same person is responsible at this stage.

"At the time of his death it was not thought to be suspicious. With the information the officers had at that time, they reached the right conclusion.

"But we now believe quite a lot of people know a lot more about his death than came forward at the time - if they had come forward earlier the matter would have been dealt with quite differently.

"We would urge anyone who may have been afraid to come forward in the past to do so now."

Mrs Deighton was attacked and left for dead last June at her home on the West Hill Estate, only a couple of hundred yards from Mr Knight's home.

She was taken to Scarborough Hospital, where she died ten days later without recovering consciousness.

Police have questioned several people at the station about her death, but they have all been released without charge.

Det Insp Morris has "categorically denied" that the deaths could be serial killings.

"The most important thing is that anyone who knows anything about Michael Knight should come forward and we can, hopefully, get to the bottom of what happened."

He said Mr Knight had lived at Bridlington most of his life, but frequently went to Kent to go picking hops - that explained why his disappearance had not been noticed and his body had not been found for so long.

"What we found out gave us good reason to think we should investigate further," said Det Insp Morris.

"But this is a delicate stage in the investigation and we cannot say more at this moment, but we felt it necessary to put this information into the public domain.

"We still believe the answer to Mrs Deighton's murder lies in Bridlington and someone here holds the vital piece of information for us."

Anyone who knew Michael Knight or who may have any information concerning his death is urged to contact the police incident room at Driffield on (01377) 241882.

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