Police in the North have pledged to do everything they can to recover the body of a murdered schoolgirl as fresh searches for her remains began 17 years after her disappearance.

A convicted murderer in jail in England is to be called to give evidence at the inquest into the death of a Co Tyrone teenager he was acquitted of murdering, a coroner ruled today.

Forensic scientists today joined a new police search for the body of a missing schoolgirl in the North.

Police in the North searching for the body of murdered Tyrone girl Arlene Arkinson have said they will carry out further searches.

CONVICTED murderer and serial rapist Robert Howard was last night flown out of the North to serve the remainder of a life sentence for the slaying of a teenage girl in England.

SERIAL sex attacker Robert Howard, who was cleared of murdering schoolgirl Arlene Arkinson, may have been working for the police special branch at the time she disappeared, it was claimed last night.

Gardaí are seeking to question convicted child killer Robert Howard about a series of unsolved murders of women, it emerged today.

A SERIAL rapist, who is serving life for the murder of a teenager, was left at large by police, prosecutors and the courts, according to a new documentary to be screened tonight.

DEPRAVED killer, Robert Howard, used to prowl riverbanks in the dead of night shooting salmon as they leapt upstream.

Robert Lesarian Howard, from Wolfhill, Co Laois, was sentenced to life in prison in Britain in 2003 for murder of a 15-year-old English schoolgirl, Hannah Williams.

THIS is the innocent woman who married the Irish serial rapist and child killer Robert Howard, who is suspected of killing up to seven women in Britain.

WARNINGS that serial sex offender Robert Howard would commit even more serious crimes were given eight years before he abducted, raped and murdered a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

DETECTIVES who investigated the murder of Hannah Williams after her body was found in a disused cement works in Kent initially lacked enough evidence to charge their prime suspect, Robert Howard.

DEPRAVED killer Robert Howard strangled schoolgirl Hannah Williams with a 12-metre rope, it was revealed yesterday.

A SERIAL rapist, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of a 14-year-old girl in Britain, was investigated by gardaí in connection with the disappearance and murder of three Irish women, it has emerged.