Search for Louise yields no clues

Police in Germany searching for missing student nurse Louise Kerton said today an exhaustive finger-tip examination of a quarry close to where she was staying has so far yielded no clues.

Almost 200 police officers today began their fourth day combing through fields and the quarry near the village of Strassfeld, where Louise, 24, from Kent, had been staying with her fiance's family.

They were looking for any sign of Louise, who disappeared on July 30 last year as she travelled back to the UK to meet her fiance Peter Simon and to discuss her future as a nurse after failing a number of exams. Her family are convinced she is dead.

A German police spokesman in Strassfeld, near Bonn, said this morning: "The police are still searching today but have so far found nothing. They are still concentrating on land and the quarry.

"We still do not know how long the search will take. It may go into tomorrow."

Yesterday police said the search, which comes after increased pressure from Louise's family for action, was routine. They said they were looking for clues to Louise's disappearance or a body.

She was last seen at Aachen station, near Strassfeld, where she was dropped off by her fiance's mother Ramana Simon. Louise was meant to catch a train to Ostend but despite a huge appeal for sightings, led by her father Phil Kerton, she has not been seen since.

Last month Mr Kerton, angry over a lack of positive action by the German police, appealed directly to the German Ambassador in London for a new search for his daughter.

Most watched News videos