In the north, forensic teams are due to begin a fresh search for the body of a teenager who vanished more than 20 years ago.

Arlene Arkinson, was last seen in 1994 with a convicted child killer in county Donegal.

Robert Howard was acquitted of the fifteen year old’s murder in 2005 but remained the prime suspect in the unsolved case until his death in prison last year.

Arlene’s sister Kathleen has thanked a local farmer who reported a piece of disturbed land to police: “I don’t want to get my hopes up ‘cos we have been through this loads and loads of times, and the come down is pretty bad, but I just hope it’s Arlene.”