Washed-up foot 'could be Daniel'

Daniel Nolan's family is being kept informed

Police are investigating if a human foot, trainer and sock washed up on a Dorset beach are those of a missing schoolboy Daniel Nolan.

The clothes, which are said to be similar to those worn by Daniel when he disappeared, were washed up on May 15.

Daniel's parents have been informed and must now wait for the results of forensic tests, expected to take some weeks.

Daniel vanished after a fishing trip in Hamble on New Year's Day in 2002, aged 15.

Lucy Dibden of Hampshire Police said: "The bones and items of clothing have been sent for forensic and DNA analysis.

"Both the trainer and sock appear to be consistent with those worn by missing Hampshire teenager Daniel Nolan, but we await the result of the aforementioned test to establish identity."

Tests are still being carried out on bones which were found washed up on Warsash beach, near Southampton in February, though police say there is little chance of successfully extracting DNA.