Danielle Jones murder: Police use radar to search for schoolgirl’s body

Police are using ground penetrating radar to search a block of garages for the body of murdered schoolgirl Danielle Jones.

Excavation work will later be carried out at the garages near where her killer lived in Stifford Clays, Thurrock.

15-year-old Danielle was last seen on 18 June 2001 when she left her home in East Tilbury, Thurrock, to catch the bus to school.

Her uncle Stuart Campbell was convicted of her murder in December 2002, but her body has never been found.

Police began searching the site on Monday, 16 years after failing to act on a tip-off about the garages, which were never searched.

The head of Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate and Assistant Chief Constable Steve Worron said he was pleased with the progress made so far.

"Today the focus of our activity is to work with some national search specialists and forensic archaeologists to identify once and for all whether Danielle’s body has been buried here for the last 16 years," he said.

He also suggested the search, currently on its second day, could take some time.

"I put no timescale about how long the work is going to take to complete," he said.

"I’m absolutely determined though, that when we leave the site here in Stifford Clays we will be absolutely certain whether Danielle’s body has been buried here for the last 16 years or not – the work will take as long as it takes to complete."

The current search was launched after a member of the public reported "unusual activity" at the site to police in February.

On Monday, Danielle’s parents visited the site to see the search being carried out.

The search for Danielle and subsequent murder investigation was one of the biggest cases that Essex Police has dealt with and involved more than 750 officers and staff.

Mr Worron said a "huge number" of searches were carried out in 2001 and 2002 including more than 1,000 garages.

(c) Sky News 2017: Danielle Jones murder: Police use radar to search for schoolgirl’s body