A MAN has been charged with the murder of Georgina Edmonds – the widow of a former Basingstoke coffee merchant.

The suspect, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was remanded in custody by Judge Keith Cutler after appearing on the murder charge at Winchester Crown Court on Wednesday, October 22.

Police confirmed they had charged the man with killing Mrs Edmonds – one of Hampshire’s biggest unsolved murder investigations in the last 30 years.

Mrs Edmonds was found dead on January 11, 2008, in the kitchen of her house in Kiln Lane, Brambridge, on the banks of the River Itchen.

The 77-year-old had been beaten around her head with a marble rolling pin. Detectives believed she had first been tortured – being repeatedly stabbed across the top of her body with a paring knife.

The person, or people, responsible then left her in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor, locking her inside before fleeing the scene.

The pensioner’s handbag was taken and its contents, including her mobile phone, were later discovered on the towpath close to her home.

Mrs Edmonds was the widow of Basingstoke coffee merchant Harry Edmonds. Her son, also called Harry, ran The Edmonds Group, a coffee merchant which was based in Paddington House, in Festival Place, Basingstoke.

The firm specialised in Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, thought to be the most expensive coffee in the world.

Mr Edmonds, who lived in neighbouring Kingfisher Lodge, and Mrs Edmonds’ dog walker Ian Wrightson discovered the pensioner’s body at the family home.

They became suspicious when they couldn’t see the lights on in her cottage, and when they investigated, they made the horrific discovery.

An appeal to find whoever was responsible drew thousands of calls from the public and generated numerous lines of enquiry for detectives to follow up.

Specialist teams repeatedly trawled the River Itchen for clues.

Officers gathered DNA samples from people living in Eastleigh, after writing to 120 people to provide a mouth swab so they could be ruled out of the mass inquiry.

Police officers also travelled to Poland on the trail of a local man who had aroused suspicion, but he was later ruled out.

Detectives examined similar crimes across the UK and worldwide, while 300 former convicts have been traced and spoken to in the wider Eastleigh comm-unity.

A £20,000 reward was also put up by Mrs Edmonds’ family for any information that could lead to the conviction of her killer.

The investigation team went national with their appeal for help, which was screened on BBC One’s Crimewatch progrramme in the hope that someone with a vital piece of information would come forward.