Body in garden is missing Vicky

Vicky family's years of pain

Human remains found in the garden of a house in Kent are those of missing 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton, police say.

The remains of Vicky - last seen in West Lothian in 1991 - were found at the Margate house by police who had been focusing on another missing girl.

Scotsman Peter Tobin, who once lived at the property, was arrested and charged in July over Vicky's disappearance.

Police in England are looking at other murders to determine if there is a link to the discovery of Vicky's remains.

Houses searched

Mr Tobin is currently in custody and is expected to appear before Linlithgow Sheriff Court on Thursday on charges related to the death of Vicky.

Detectives had been looking for missing 18-year-old Dinah McNicol at the Margate house and have said they are continuing to search for any other human remains.

Vicky, who lived in Redding near Falkirk, Stirlingshire, was last seen waiting for a bus in Bathgate on 10 February 1991.

The search for further remains is continuing at the house in Margate

She had been travelling from Livingston to her home and was changing buses when she disappeared.

She was last seen in Bathgate's George Square. Eyewitnesses said she was sitting on a bench eating chips.

Personal items belonging to Vicky, believed to be jewellery and clothing, were also discovered at the house in Kent.

In 1993, Vicky's mother Janette died without knowing what had happened to her daughter.

A review of the case into Vicky's disappearance was launched by Lothian and Borders Police last year.

'Deep search'

Police searched a house in Bathgate where Peter Tobin once lived and in October a house in Southsea, Hampshire, was searched.

Essex Police are continuing their search for Dinah McNicol

Police have said they are still searching the Margate house for the remains of Dinah McNicol, who was from Essex but failed to return after a trip to Hampshire in 1991.

Det Supt Tim Wills, of Essex Police, said: "We came here to search for Dinah McNicol or any physical evidence which might link her disappearance to that house.

"And that's what we will continue to do. I do not intend to leave the house until I'm fully satisfied that there are not any other human remains at that site."

He added that once a ground level search has been completed, a "deep search" would get under way which could take "a number of days".