Death house search reaches attic

Death house search reaches attic

Officers searching a house in Margate where the bodies of two teenage girls were found are to begin going through the property's upper floors.
Police have completed their search of the ground floor, and will now concentrate on the first floor and attic space.

The bodies of Vicky Hamilton, 15, and Dinah McNicol, 18, were discovered at the house in Irvine Drive.

Peter Tobin, 61, has been charged in Scotland with murdering Miss Hamilton.

The father of Miss McNicol is expected to visit the house on Monday.

Ian McNichol told the BBC that it was important for him to see the spot where his daughter lay, as TV pictures of the scene had been hard to take in.

Cases reopened

Forensic archaeologists are due to carry out detailed analysis of material gained from drilling through the concrete floors in the house, while officers examine rooms upstairs.

They will be looking for any further human remains.

Tabitha Wilson of Essex Police, who are leading the search, said: "We've now almost completed the ground work of the property.

"That has involved drilling through the concrete floor. There have been no further finds as a result of that work.

"Forensic archaeologists will examine the inside of the house."

The body of Miss Hamilton, 15, from Redding near Falkirk, was recovered on 12 November, and the remains of Miss McNicol, from Essex, were found in the garden of the property on Friday.

Peter Tobin, who used to live in the property, was charged with the 15-year-old's murder and appeared at Linlithgow Sheriff Court on Thursday.

It is thought the discoveries in Margate have led to a number of other murder cases being re-examined.

These are believed to include the murder of Jessie Earl, who disappeared from Eastbourne in East Sussex in 1980 and was found dead nine years later, and the deaths of three women killed in Glasgow in the late 1960s by a man dubbed "Bible John".