Charlotte police use US tactics

Charlotte Pinkney vanished in February

Police are to use a new American search technique to hunt for the body of north Devon teenager Charlotte Pinkney.

Detectives are now working on the theory she has been buried somewhere in the llfracombe area.

Divers have ended a search of two reservoirs in the area, but there has been no sign of Charlotte's body.

The police will now use a technique which uses previous murder cases to identify the most likely locations to find a body.

Disturbed earth

It also cross-references them with information about the habits of any suspects to narrow the search area.

Detectives believe Charlotte's body may have been buried.

As summer approaches, and more people go walking, the police are asking them to report any large patches of disturbed earth, or piles of stones around Ilfracombe, where a body may be buried.

Nicholas Rose, 22, from Foreland View in Ilfracombe, has been charged with Charlotte's murder.

She was last seen leaving a party in Ilfracombe in the early hours of 28 February.