Police hunt for schoolboy's killer

Detectives yesterday stepped up their hunt for the killer of a 12-year-old schoolboy whose body was found in a picnic-area in Norfolk 50 miles from his home on Friday night.

Post-mortem results showed that Thomas Marshall was strangled. He was abducted from his home village of Happisburgh on Thursday while out riding his bicycle. A murder squad of 60 officers was trying to discover how the boy was transported across the county to Thetford, where his body was dumped.

Det Supt Les Parrett, who appealed for information, said: "There is someone out there who is incredibly dangerous. They have victimised a young lad who was just coming into his teens and had his whole life ahead of him and was at an age when he was very vulnerable."

He refused to confirm or deny whether the victim had been sexually assaulted.