IT is a small community which detectives believe holds the answer to the brutal murder of a grandmother.

Some 3,000 homes are this week at the centre of the hunt to find the man who tortured and then bludgeoned Georgina Edmonds to death in the kitchen of her country cottage.

The area has been identified and mapped by experts who police have turned to as part of the investigation into the 77-year-old’s murder exactly two years ago on Monday.

It is one of a number of significant breakthroughs in the inquiry that has detectives believing the net is finally closing in on their man.

Using advances in forensic science, detectives now also have the DNA profile of the killer and are preparing to take mouth swabs from more than 500 local men.

It was on the afternoon of January 11, 2008, that Mrs Edmonds was murdered at her Fig Tree Cottage home on the banks of the picturesque River Itchen in Brambridge, near Otterbourne.

Her body was found in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor by her son Harry Edmonds, who lived in neighbouring Kingfisher Lodge, just yards away on the family estate.

She had been beaten around the head with a marble rolling pin after first being repeatedly stabbed with a paring knife.

This week, teams of police were joining major crime team detectives to saturate part of Eastleigh and Boyatt Wood community where it’s believed the killer did — and could still — live.

Calling at houses throughout the area, they are sure that the murderer had strong personal links — be it a wife, partner, family member or workplace — there, and will be asking residents what they know.

The map was produced by geographical profilers from the National Policing Improvement Agency, which has a bank of experts who can help with complex investigations such as unsolved murders.

It highlights a surrounding area of up to 3,000 homes which are surrounded by boundaries of railway lines and the M3.

Using evidence gathered throughout the investigation, they firmly believe the man has extremely strong local knowledge and would have been living, staying or working somewhere locally.

He is known to have: ● Left the house along the towpath of the river towards Eastleigh, where he dropped Mrs Edmonds’ mobile phone.

● Gone to a cashpoint where he knew there were CCTV cameras and heavily disguised himself, covering his face.

● Taken a route to the cashpoint over a small piece of wasteland which only people familiar with the area would know.

● Walked away from the Tesco Express in the same direction he arrived, most likely to a property in the area.

The theory is backed by detectives leading the inquiry who are hopeful it could help them solve Mrs Edmonds’ murder.

Det Chief Insp Paul Barton said: “We are sure that when we finally find this man he will turn out to have a particularly strong connection with this area, possibly even living down the road.

“We are confident the answer to whoever committed this crime lies within the local community.

“Mrs Edmonds’ killer may have managed to avoid capture so far, but he was not particularly clever.

We feel this was an opportunist job —far from a sophisticated crime.

“The killer has gone into a house that had many valuables which were ignored, taken Mrs Edmonds’ handbag and her cash card which they could not even use.”

Det Chief Insp Barton added: “It is obvious that after any period of stress the natural thing to do would be to go to somewhere you feel safe.

“If you are under stress or pressure, you are likely to take the most direct route to where you want to go to feel safe again, and that is likely to be what the offender did after leaving the cashpoint that night.

“We are also certain that he would have had to find himself an alibi — this was a murder almost certainly not planned.”

During the past two years the investigation has been reviewed several times by other teams of detectives to ensure nothing has been missed.

It now has a new man at the helm, Det Supt Jason Hogg, the head of the county’s major crime department.

Det Chief Insp Barton said: “The family of Mrs Edmonds are obviously finding this very difficult.

“For their sake, I would urge people to stop and think about what you know.

“If you have information or even a suspicion about someone close to you, come forward and talk to us.

All we need is a name.”