HE was brutally stabbed to death in his own garage - and ten years later, Geoffrey Leeming's killing remains one of York's few unsolved murders.

But today there is fresh hope that his killer may finally be brought to justice after police revealed they are to carry out a "cold-case" review of the slaying.

His brother, Tony, hopes experts may be able to use new DNA analysis techniques to pinpoint who knifed Geoffrey while his wife, Jackie, watched Coronation Street inside their home in a Haxby cul-de-sac on October 9, 1996.

His hopes have been further boosted by news that four police forces in the north are to test out an even better, computer-based analysis system devised by the Forensic Science Service, which can interpret previously unintelligible DNA samples.

Experts hope the world-first technique - which is due to be extended after the pilot to all police forces, including North Yorkshire - could help crack tens of thousands of unsolved crimes. Scientists may be able to identify 40 per cent more samples than at present.

Mr Leeming said today he had contacted North Yorkshire Police a couple of months ago after reading about nationwide advances in DNA techniques and hearing of major criminals being caught as a result.

He said he had asked if they were going to carry out a cold case review of his brother's murder, and had been told that it was one of a number of cases that police were going to look at again.

"I would welcome this," he said. "It does give me fresh hope that my brother's killer will finally be caught - as does the news about the new technique being piloted.

"Today sees the tenth anniversary of his murder and no one has yet been brought to justice over his death, but DNA advances mean that there is always hope that such cases will eventually be solved. It's not a closed book, it's still open.

Mr Leeming said he also wanted to issue an appeal through The Press for anyone with information about the murder to come forward and tell police, even if they had stayed silent until now.

"It is never too late to come forward, even ten years afterwards.

"I hope you can jog memories again in the hope that the killer can be brought to justice."

Anyone with information should phone 0845 60 60 247.

John Lacy, the police chief who led the investigation into the murder but has since retired from the force, said today he hoped that new DNA techniques could still lead to the crime being solved. "It remains the biggest disappointment of my 35-year police career that this murder was never solved," he said.

He said a number of significant forensic items were recovered after the murder, including the murder weapon, which had remain-ed in safe storage and which could be analysed afresh.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said they could not comment on which, if any, cold cases were being reviewed.

Chief Reporter Mike Laycock looks back at the murder of Geoffrey Leeming, ten years ago today

IT became known as the Coronation Street murder. For while her husband was being savagely stabbed to death in the garage, Jackie Leeming was sitting inside their home watching the popular TV soap.

The killing in Linley Avenue, Haxby, sparked one of North Yorkshire's biggest murder inquiries, which took a series of dramatic twists that would have done justice to a TV detective drama.

Almost 1,000 statements were taken from hundreds of people, and 1,378 exhibits were gathered - including the knife used to kill Geoffrey.

For the first few months, the investigation followed a pattern fairly common to such inquiries, with Jackie making an emotional appeal for people to help police catch her husband's killer.

But in 1997, she exclusively told The Press how residents in Haxby were pointing the finger at her and her family in a whispering campaign without any foundation.

Later, Jackie, her daughter, Jayne, and son, Stephen, were sensationally arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the 63-year-old former soldier, but the charges were thrown out by a stipendiary magistrate before it could get to the crown court.

The magistrate said it was based on suspicions only and without real evidence.

However, on the third anniversary of Geoffrey's death, Jackie told how people had continued to point their fingers at her, and said that the day someone was caught for his murder would mark the end of a nightmare.

"It will not make me happy - that can never be, but it will show all the armchair detectives just what unhappiness they bring to innocent people," she said. She pledged to fight until the day she died to find his killer, but then died last year, aged 62, after a long battle against cancer.

Jayne said then that her mother had asked her to continue the search for the truth after her death.

"She never gave up. She wanted us to keep digging," she said.

North Yorkshire Police said then that the Leeming murder case had never closed, but remained open while not "currently active."

A spokesman said that, like all cold cases, it was subject to regular review. "If we did receive some additional information, that would be examined."