Genette police go to Northern Ireland

Genette Tate disappeared in 1978

Police officers investigating the disappearance 25 years ago of a Devon schoolgirl have travelled to Belfast to discuss a similar investigation into a murder in Northern Ireland in 1981.

Genette Tate was 13 when she vanished from Aylesbeare in Devon in 1978.

Jennifer Cardy, nine, was murdered three years later in Ulster. Both girls vanished while out cycling.

The Chief Constable of the Northern Ireland Police Service, Hugh Orde, and the Chief Constable of the Devon and Cornwall force, Maria Wallis, met in Belfast on Wednesday.

Future inquiries

"Similarities between the two investigations were discussed," said a spokesman for Devon and Cornwall police.

Genette was newspaper delivery girl when she went missing near her home village of Aylesbeare on the afternoon of August 19, 1978.

Her body has never been found and her case is Britain's longest running missing persons inquiry.

Jennifer Cardy's body was found in a lake after she disappeared while out on her bicycle.

Police said at the time they were treating her death as a murder inquiry.

In recent years the Devon and Cornwall police investigation has focused on child killer Robert Black.

Investigation continues

In 1994 he was sentenced to 10 life sentences for the abduction and murder of three young girls, and the attempted abduction of a 15-year-old girl.

Black was interviewed by Devon and Cornwall detectives in 1996 and 1998 but denied abducting Genette.

He was also interviewed by Irish police about the death of Jennifer.

Devon and Cornwall Assistant Chief Constable Steve Pearce will co-ordinate future inquiries between the forces.

A team of 20 police is still investigating Genette's case.

Devon and Cornwall police Detective Superintendent Nigel Boulton who was 16 when Genette disappeared - said the investigation would continue "as long as there is something positive to inquire into".