Southend people hold the key to bringing the killer of an Albanian man to justice, the detective investigating his murder has said.

In an exclusive interview, Det Supt Ian McNeill, who is investigating the murder of Pal Ton Qerimi, 32, is adamant that vital witnesses still need to come forward.

Mr Qerimi died from a single stab wound after he was knifed close to the junction of York Road and St Leonards Road in Southend.

Det Supt McNeill said: "The person responsible for this could be brought to justice by local people telling us what they know. There are Southend people who saw this.

"What we are concerned about is the public have assumed that we have detected this offence because we arrested a number of people.

"We do not tolerate these sorts of murders. English people will come forward but in some ways because the crime involves foreign nationals, people do not care about it as much as they should. We need to make sure we detect this offender to deter further murders being committed here."

A group of foreign nationals who were arrested following the murder have been released without charge. The killer is thought to be of a similar cultural background as Mr Qerimi.

Police still want to trace other people who were near the scene of the crime, at around 4pm on April 27.

These include :

A woman pushing a buggy in Albert Road, spotted by witnesses

An Italian-looking man aged between 45 and 50 who was short, balding with dark brown hair, and a hooked nose. He was heard to tell on-lookers that he had seen the entire incident

A man seen running from the bottom of Albert Road into Stanley Road.

Mr McNeill said of the victim: "The emerging picture of him was that he was quite a quiet, reflective man and kept himself to himself.He was doing things to try to earn a living, which was probably breaking the rules here, but his family are shepherds and are earning an honest living back in Albania, as far as I can tell."

Anyone with information can contact the incident room on 01268 775588 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.