Caroline claim scrutinised

Caroline Dickinson was staying in a youth hostel

Judicial officials in France are examining new information in the case of the man accused of murdering Cornish schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson.

It follows an apparent confession to the killing by Francisco Arce Montez.

Montez, 52, has already admitted he was at the hostel at Pleine Fougeres in Brittany where Caroline died.

Caroline, who was 13, was raped and killed while on a school trip from Launceston in July 1996.

Mr Montez was extradited from the US

A senior French prosecutor said Montez admitted to the killing at a closed committal hearing.

Judicial officials in Brittany are now to trying to establish the extent of Montez's motivation for being at the hostel, and how pre-meditated the attack on Caroline was.

Montez was extradited from America to France in November 2001 after DNA matched him to the scene of Caroline's death.

He was arrested when an American immigration officer on holiday in Britain read about the mystery, and tied it in with a man arrested for a similar attack in Miami.

A full trial is unlikely to take place in Rennes until the end of the year.