Bebo site used after woods murder

Medical records were used to establish Victoria Couchman's identity

A teenage mother's social networking webpage may have been used months after her murder, detectives believe.

Police investigating the murder of 19-year-old Victoria Couchman are looking at her Bebo profile, which was used to send messages 11 weeks ago.

Officers said on Monday Miss Couchman, from St Leonards, East Sussex was seen alive earlier this year.

Police have until 2330 BST to question a man, believed to be her father, arrested on suspicion of murder.

A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said officers were aware the messages had been sent to a friend.

"It is forming part of the ongoing investigation," she said. "It is one line of inquiry."

Lived with father

Detectives were granted a further 36 hours on Sunday to question the man, arrested on Saturday at the Couchman family home in St Leonards.

Neighbours said Miss Couchman lived with her father.

Sussex Police have confirmed they are not investigating the whereabouts of her daughter.

Miss Couchman had described herself on her Bebo site as a lover of comedy and romance films and urged others to "live life like it's your last day".

The 45-year-old man was arrested at the Couchman family home

Previously, police said they believed Miss Couchman's remains had been lying in woods in Hastings, East Sussex, for about 18 months

The murder came to light after a skull was found on 13 October by children playing in Redgeland Wood.

More parts of the skeleton were found by a forensics team, who said none of the remains appeared to have been buried.

Medical records were used to establish that the remains belonged to Miss Couchman.

Details of a cause of death have not been disclosed by police.

It was originally thought the remains had been in the woods for up to 10 years but following the discoveries - of an upper left leg, pelvic bone and tibia - police said they thought they had been there for about 18 months.

One key piece of information for police came from the disclosure that Ms Couchman's upper left leg had suffered a full break and had been pinned.

Inspector Heather Keating said: "This is a tragedy for the family and we will be working with them and the wider community to establish what happened to Victoria."