Dickinson DNA tests extended

Police yesterday began taking genetic samples from 170 French villagers as part of the 15-month hunt for the killer of British schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson.

She was raped and murdered in a shared dormitory in a youth hostel in the Brittany village of Pleine Fougeres while on a trip with Launceston community college, Cornwall.

French investigators began DNA-testing males aged between 15 and 35 on a voluntary basis in the village where Caroline was killed in July last year. John Dickinson, her father, who has fought since Caroline's death for a more thorough approach to police inquiries, welcomed the move. He said: "This is something I have campaigned for very hard and I think it is a very important avenue to be gone down. If it does not lead to Caroline's killer being found, then we will try other avenues."