Victim's father visits Margate house

LONDON (Reuters) - The father of a missing teenage girl believed to have been buried at a house in Kent said on Monday the discovery of her body would help his family to "put her to rest and grieve".

Ian McNicol visited the house in Margate where police think his daughter Dinah has been buried for more than 16 years.

The 18-year-old student failed to return home in Essex after a music festival in Liphook in Hampshire, in the summer of 1991.

She was last seen hitching a lift with a man on the M25. Neither the driver nor the car has ever been traced.

Trembling and supported by a relative, McNicol told reporters outside the house: "At least they have found her remains and I can speak for the whole family that we can now put her to rest and grieve in our own time.

"That is what we have really wanted for 16 years."

Police say formal identification of the body could take days.

Last week, officers also found the body of Vicky Hamilton, 15, during an extensive search of the home's back garden.

She disappeared from Bathgate, West Lothian, in Scotland, also in 1991.

Handyman Peter Tobin, 61, said by media to have once owned the house, has appeared in a Scottish court accused of murdering Hamilton.

Reports said at least nine other properties linked to Tobin during the past 40 years could be searched. They include properties in Hampshire, Brighton and Scotland.

McNicol's visit came a few hours after police brought in two dogs to help their search of the house.

The spaniels, supplied by Surrey Police, will help identify any areas in the house of particular interest, police said.

Preparation of the ground floor, including drilling through concrete floors, took place during the weekend.