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Scrap dealer arrested in connection with Milly Dowler murder
26 Oct 2009A scrap dealer accused of helping to dispose of a car linked to the murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler was arrested today.
The 40-year-old man from West London was arrested at 9.30am after voluntarily attending a police station and is being held on suspicion of assisting an offender.
He is understood to be Nirmal Gharu, who was interviewed by police on August 4 over the same matter.
Surrey Police are questioning him about a red Daewoo Nexia car which officers believe could have been used to transport the 13-year-old's body.
Amanda Dowler, who was known as Milly, disappeared while walking home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, on March 21, 2002.
Six months later, her skeletal remains were found 30 miles away by mushroom pickers in Yateley Heath, Hampshire. Her death remains one of Britain's most notorious unsolved crimes.
Earlier this month, divers searched Bedford Lake, near London's Heathrow Airport, for the Daewoo Nexia but said they found "nothing of any relevance".
Investigators received new information suggesting the car had been dumped there but said after the search they had no plans to return to the lake.
Despite extensive searches over the past four years there are still no signs of the car.
Prime suspect Levi Bellfield has admitted driving the car but claims he was carrying building materials.
Officers have been painstakingly building a case against Bellfield since he was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in November 2004 over other matters.
The 41-year-old was told last year that he would die in jail after he was found guilty of murdering students Marsha McDonnell, 19, and Amelie Delagrange, 22.
He was also convicted of the attempted murder of schoolgirl Kate Sheedy, 18. All of the women were attacked near bus stops in south west London.
Bellfield, a former nightclub bouncer and wheelclamper, was arrested and interviewed over Milly's death four years ago.
Officers believe they have compelling circumstantial evidence which links him to the crime.
Last month, Crown Prosecution Service solicitors were handed a dossier of evidence by Surrey Police and are now considering whether to charge Bellfield with murder.
It emerged that detectives investigating Milly's murder obtained new evidence, which cannot be disclosed for legal reasons, last December.
