'Remains' found in student search

Dinah McNicol, of Tillingham, Essex, was 18 when she vanished after attending a music festival in Liphook, Hampshire in August 1991.

Police said forensic experts had found "what were believed to be human remains" in the back garden of a house in Margate, Kent.

Police had spent much of the day searching the house a week after announcing that they were reviewing Miss McNicol's disappearance.

A spokeswoman said post-mortem tests would be carried out on the remains and the search of the house and gardens was continuing. She added: "It is too early to say whether the remains are those of Dinah McNicol."

Detectives said Miss McNicol disappeared after hitching a lift from the festival. The teenager - who would now be 34 - and a male friend had been driven to a service station on the A3 in Hampshire.

Officers think the pair were then picked up by a man in a car who dropped off Miss McNicol's friend at junction 8 of the M25 near Reigate, Surrey.

It is believed Miss McNicol continued the journey alone with the man. Officers said she had not been seen since. Neither the car nor the driver were traced.

Around the time of Miss McNicol's disappearance, money was withdrawn from her building society account at cash machines in Sussex and Hampshire, officers said.

The spokeswoman said detectives were given "information" which led them to the three-bedroom terrace house. She said the inquiry was not linked to the current occupants, who had lived there for 12 years. The family had been moved to another address while forensic teams investigated, she added.