Seven years after the mysterious murder of an aviation expert from Pluckley, the case remains unsolved and friends say they are losing hope of ever finding out what happened.

Andrew Cresswell, known as Andy or Cressy, was brutally killed in a case that has baffled detectives.

The 51-year-old lived in a mobile home on the village’s Pivington Mill industrial estate where he ran a cafe.

His body was found by workers one morning and a post-mortem revealed he had died from a blow to the head.

Police worked on the theories that he may have disturbed a burglar and been attacked but nothing has ever been proven.

“We are losing hope that anyone will be caught but maybe someone will be caught with a DNA match one day” - Trevor Matthews

The aviation archaeologist had a specialist knowledge of First World War crash sites and was poignantly found dead on Armistice Day – exactly 90 years after the fighting stopped.

As the mystery passes its seventh anniversary, the case remains unsolved and despite the arrests of five men early on in the investigation, no one has ever been charged due to a lack of evidence.

A Kent Police spokesman said: “There are no new developments and, as with all undetected cases, we will actively investigate any new lines of inquiry.”

Mr Cresswell was a keen collector of First World War memorabilia and had a huge collection ranging from buttons to engines.

His family donated his entire collection to the Lashenden Air Warfare Museum, in Headcorn, which is still on display in his memory.

Trevor Matthews, trustee of the museum, said he is losing hope of ever finding out what happened to his friend.

He said: “It is bad. I know it is difficult finding new leads but there must be clues somewhere.

“Someone, somewhere knows something.

“It’s difficult to remain hopeful, the longer it goes on the further back it goes from people’s memories.

“We are losing hope that anyone will be caught but maybe someone will be caught with a DNA match one day.”

Nominations for the museum’s annual Andrew Cresswell Memorial Award will take place in the next few weeks, and the winner will be announced in the new year.

It is given to someone who goes above and beyond in their service to the museum, in tribute to Mr Cresswell.