A POLICE stop-and-search operation to investigate the hijacking of a Liphook woman at knifepoint has failed to turn up any new leads.

A team of nine officers checked all vehicles using Longmoor Road between 9 and 10 pm on Thursday, November 14, one week after Ginny Goulding (55) from Station Road, was forced by two men to drive to Portsmouth ferry port.

Officers involved in "Operation Darsham" were stationed at both ends of the road near the temporary traffic lights where Mrs Goulding was stopped in her Silver VW Polo just before 10 pm.

As she waited at a red light, two men got into the car and ordered her to drive. Mrs Goulding was slashed on the face when she attempted to draw attention to the car by driving erratically.

She drove on to the A3 (M) southbound, M27 and M275, leaving the motorway at Rudmore roundabout. As she approached the ferry port, the men leapt from her car, ran off and haven't been seen since.

Every vehicle was stopped by police in the operation and drivers and passengers questioned in the hunt for witnesses.

"In the hour between 9 and 10 pm, we stopped 62 vehicles, 23 of which were in the area at the same time as the incident," a spokesman for Hampshire Police said."Unfortunately none of these had seen anything untoward, so there are no positive lines of inquiry."

Officer in charge, Detective Constable Nik Henshaw, had hoped that the stop-check would provide details of the offenders' movements before they got into her car, and better physical descriptions.

"This was an exercise we had to undertake, but you don't know what you're going to get until you do it," he said. "I would like to thank all the members of the public who helped us, and the Whitehill police officers who took part."

Dc Henshaw is now awaiting forensic tests results from the car, and the large amount of CCTV taken from the whole route is also being examined.

The hijackers are described as foreign with olive complexions, and neither spoke much English. The man in the front seat was aged 30 to 40 with long, bushy dark hair. He wore a dark-coloured waist-length leather jacket.

The man in the back of the car was in his early to mid-20s, dark haired and wore a light-coloured fleece with a hood over his head.

Police want to hear from anyone who saw the vehicle or its passengers during its journey through the Liphook area on Thursday night, or from anyone who saw such men near the Portsmouth continental ferry port after 10 pm. Contact Alton CID on 0845 045 45 45.