DETECTIVES hunting the killers of Rochester man Marco Schiroli are no closer to finding the murder weapon.

Scores of police officers armed with metal detectors have intensified their search for the weapon in the search for whoever stabbed Mr Schiroli to death outside The Vineyard pub in Maidstone Road, Rochester.

He was attacked on New Year's Eve and pronounced dead on arrival at Medway Maritime Hospital.

Two men were arrested and released on bail and officers are still trying to trace Paul Brown, 36, to speak to him as part of their inquiry. In the days following the attack, officers painstakingly carried out door-to-door inquiries and searched drains and gutters.

Hundreds of weapons were recovered, but the knife used in the fatal stabbing was never recovered. Last week, officers were back at the scene to carry out a fresh search, but to no avail.

A spokeman for Kent Police said: "We carried out the search to make sure we covered everything. We have to go through all the processes. We widened the search, but nothing turned up."

Mr Schiroli's mother Pam, of Copperfield Road, Rochester, made a heartfelt plea in March, on what would have been Mr Schiroli's 30th birthday. At the time she said: "I can't get on with my life until I know why my son died."