Police officers aconducted a search of Ely’s Royal Standard pub today as part of the on-going investigation into the disappearance of landlady Deborah Steel.
An area of the pub in Fore Hill, where Ms Steel was last seen at around 1am on December 28 1997, has been cordoned off while the search is carried out.
It is likely the search will continue over the coming days.
A police spokesman said: “Police are conducting a search of the Royal Standard public house in Ely, as part of an ongoing investigation into the disappearance of former landlady, Deborah Steel.
“The search is being undertaken with the full consent of the present landlord, who is not connected with the investigation.”
Ms Steel, who was 37 at the time of her disappearance, has been missing for 17 years and her case was re-classified last year from a long-term missing person to a murder inquiry,
Forensic teams carried out excavations at a property in Longfields, Ely, in September when a number of items of ‘interest’ were also seized.
A 72-year-old man, who was released on bail in November after being arrested on suspicion of murder, is due to return to Cambridge Parkside police station next week.
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