Scientists help in search for teenager's body

A group of scientists from Queens University in Belfast have today joined in the search for the body of missing schoolgirl Arlene Arkinson who has been missing since 1994.

The 15-year-old vanished close to her home in Castlederg after attending a disco at Bundoran in County Donegal with friends in August 1994.

The scientists will examine land approximately three miles from Castlederg in County Tyrone, close to where the teenager was last seen, more than a decade ago.

Searches for the schoolgirls body were resumed in October when investigators felt that the advance in new technology would aid the search, but these had to be postponed due to poor weather conditions.

The area around the Drumquin Road has been searched before, however the forensic team from Queen's are to carry out a their own investigation into the disappearance.

Police are also assisting with the operation.

Extensive searches on both sides of the Irish border have so far failed to locate any trace of the schoolgirl.

Arlene Arkinson is believed to have been in the company of convicted child killer and paedophile Robert Howard, 61, when she went missing, but after a lengthy trial, Mr Howard was cleared of murdering the schoolgirl last June.

The 61-year-old, had been found guilty in October 2003 of murdering Hannah Williams, from Deptford, whose body was found in a cement works in Kent. He was also known to be a convicted child abuser and rapist.

However, information about his past convictions and offences were withheld from the jury at the Arkinson trial.

The Public Prosecution Service said later that details of Mr Howard's past offences could have been introduced into this murder trial.

But it decided not to put Howard's convictions before the judge following legal advice.

(EF/SP)