MPs Gavin Williamson and Mike Wood say they are “surprised” and “saddened” that police will not be reopening the investigation into the unsolved murder of Stourbridge newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater.

South Staffordshire MP Mr Williamson and Dudley South MP Mr Wood had urged the then Home Secretary Theresa May, shortly before she became Prime Minister, to ask Staffordshire Police to look again at the 1978 murder case in light of explosive revelations made in Channel 4 documentary Interview with a Murderer.

But nine months on - the force has confirmed there will be no new investigation into the killing of 13-year-old Carl who was shot at Yew Tree Farm, near Wordsley, while delivering newspapers.

The documentary saw Birmingham City University criminologist Professor David Wilson go head to head with former suspect Bert Spencer in a candid interview about one of the UK’s most notorious unsolved murders.

Former ambulance officer Spencer, who served 15 years in jail for the shotgun killing of friend Hubert Wilkes, has vociferously denied killing schoolboy Carl but during the show he confessed his whereabouts for the day of the murder could not be corroborated.

He insisted he was at work at the time Carl is believed to have been shot but his ex-wife Janet rejected his alibi and told programme-makers she believed he may have been the killer.

Spencer’s daughter also confessed to thinking her father may know more than he’s ever let on about what happened that fateful day at Yew Tree Farm, off the A449.

But after carrying out a detailed review of the case including revisiting forensic evidence –Staffordshire Police has said there “are no new investigative opportunities and as such no new suspects” – and a spokesman confirmed there were "no grounds to interview Hubert Spencer at this time”.

Gavin Williamson MP, the government’s Chief Whip, said: “It’s saddening that they aren’t pursuing the matter. I think to most people it’s rather obvious there is new evidence that’s come forward, I can’t quite understand the logic as to why they’re not pursuing the case. To a lay member, quite clearly something needs to be done.

“It seems a shame that after all this time justice isn’t going to be served.

“I will be raising it with the chief constable asking what his logic is and expressing my disappointment that he hasn’t been able to take it forward."

Mike Wood, MP for Dudley South, said: "I'm surprised they didn't feel the information in the Channel 4 programme was worth another interview. Obviously it wasn't conclusive evidence but it did seem there was enough new material to justify it.”

He added: “Carl's parents are constituents - if they wanted me to take this up I'd be very happy to do so."