Backpacker police step up hunt

Australian police searching for the killer of British backpacker Caroline Stuttle today began conducting DNA tests of men living in the area where her body was found.

Miss Stuttle, 19, from York, was staying with a British friend in the Queensland town of Bundaberg, 220 miles north of Brisbane, when her body was found under a 30ft bridge in the farming town on April 10 this year.

Some of her belongings were missing and police believe she was killed after being robbed. Bundaberg CID launched the mass DNA test after receiving a DNA profile for a sample of saliva found on the bridge.

Senior Sgt Terry Borland said they didn't know if the exercise would lead to a breakthrough in the case.

"It's a matter of course. It's part of our investigation. It's something we had considered and we are doing it. Where it takes us is a matter of time."

So far 38 men have submitted DNA samples, taken in the form of a mouth swab, to the police in Bundaberg, Queensland, but police estimate that as many as 150 men live in the area.

Sgt Borland said they had begun DNA testing now, more than two months after Miss Stuttle's death, because it took time for the DNA analysis of the saliva sample to be completed and for the force to gather the resources to undertake the exercise.

He said: "The case is progressing. There's plenty of work to still do and we've got a lot of inquiries still to make."

Although only men are being asked to volunteer DNA samples at the moment, he said they would not rule out asking women to volunteer as well in the future.

No one has yet been arrested in connection with the case.