Man held over Caroline murder

The father of murdered schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson today warned against raising hopes of finding her killer after a man wanted in connection with her death was arrested in the United States.

John Dickinson said he would be adopting a "wait and see" attitude following the arrest in Florida of Spaniard Francisco Arce Montez, who is wanted for questioning over the rape and murder of his daughter.

Montez, 50, was arrested in Miami Beach on March 14 on suspicion of burglary, trespass, and of lewd and lascivious behaviour in an unconnected incident.

He was named in court last month by a French judge as a chief suspect in the Dickinson case who was "particularly" wanted by police from a list of around 50 people sought for questioning.

Mr Dickinson, 43, from Bodmin, Cornwall, said he had known about the arrest for some time and was awaiting the results of DNA tests.

He asked: "Why build your hopes up to have them dashed? We just have to wait and see."

He added: "I am aware of the situation and the family are aware of the situation.

"We understand this man is one of 48 the police are looking for and we will be awaiting the results of DNA sampling."

The family had suffered many disappointments in the five years since Caroline's death, he said, adding: "The press occasionally hear of the odd one, but there have been very many.

"We have every confidence that we have very good DNA evidence as to who the perpetrator was, so why build your hopes up?

"It is simply a matter of waiting for confirmation or otherwise."

Caroline, from Bodmin, Cornwall, was 13 years old when she was raped and strangled while sharing a youth hostel dormitory with four classmates during a school trip to Pleine Fougeres, Brittany, in July 1996.

An inquest into the Launceston College pupil's death last week heard that two girls in the dormitory were disturbed by noises coming from Caroline's bed but went back to sleep thinking she was having a bad dream.

Her lifeless body was discovered the next morning.

The inquest heard that the killer's DNA was found on Caroline's clothes but tests on nearly 3,500 men have led to nothing.

Recording a verdict of unlawful killing, East Cornwall Coroner Edward Carlyon described the killing as "the nightmare every parent dreads".

On Thursday, Mr Dickinson and his ex-wife Sue called for the French DNA database to be expanded to include all criminals arrested.

They also called for a fully integrated European DNA database.

Mr Dickinson said today that the latest arrest in the US showed the importance of sharing information internationally.

"It would be best to have an international DNA database," he said.

"But the logical commencement of that would be to have a European-wide one because where international legislation systems are different it could make it very difficult."

About 3,500 DNA samples have been taken in an attempt to find Caroline's killer.

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