KEY POINTS:
Family and friends of murdered Hawkes Bay accountant Catherine Marlow will today farewell the 28-year-old as the hunt for her killer continues.
A memorial service is to be held in a Hastings church, 11 days after she was found slain in her London office.
British police say they
are following strong leads in the investigation, yesterday releasing a description of a man seen dumping Ms Marlow's handbag on the afternoon of her murder.
Scotland Yard appealed for the man to come forward or for further sightings of him in the Vauxhall St area, where a witness saw him dumping the brown leather handbag in a bin.
"His appearance was dishevelled and he appeared agitated and nervous," investigation head Detective Chief Inspector Damian Allain said.
Mr Allain earlier said finding the stolen bag was a major breakthrough and would likely produce a "goldmine" of forensic evidence.
The handbag was located just after 3pm on the Saturday of the murder, in the same area of southwest London where Ms Marlow lived and worked.
Ms Marlow, a finance manager at market research firm Research Now, had gone into work in the morning, last contacting a friend at 1.36pm.
"We believe Catherine was attacked between 1.36pm and 2pm on the ground floor of the building as she was on her way out," Mr Allain said.
Three people have been arrested during the investigation so far, but none charged with her murder.
The first, a 28-year-old colleague of Ms Marlow who found her body in a shower and called police, was released without charge after three days in custody. A second man was arrested after CCTV showed him trying to withdraw cash using Ms Marlow's Visa card just hours after her death.
The 38-year-old, Daniel Martin Kennedy, pleaded guilty to theft and going equipped for theft on Friday and has been remanded in custody.
He claimed his wife brought home Ms Marlow's handbag.
A third man was also arrested late last week and released on bail.
The man who dumped the bag was described as white, about 5 foot 10 inches (178cm), of slim build, and aged between 25 and 35. He had short dark hair, evenly cut, and stubble.
"He was scruffily dressed in a dark top with a round neck and long sleeves and dark trousers, possibly jeans."
Ms Marlow moved to London in April 2004 after working at accounting firms in Napier and Hastings.
A postmortem showed she died of asphyxiation.
Ms Marlow's body is yet to be released for return to New Zealand.
Her memorial service will be held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Hastings at 11am.