POLICE investigating the disappearance of a teenage girl more than 16 years ago were yesterday searching a house 450 miles from the spot where she was last seen.
Vicky Hamilton, 15, vanished from Bathgate, West Lothian, in February 1991. The schoolgirl was last seen waiting for a bus in the centre of the town.
Her disappearance is still being investigated by Lothian and Borders Police, who launched a revi
ew of the case last year.
A house in Bathgate was later searched and a man, named as Peter Tobin, was arrested and charged in July.
The force said yesterday that a house in the Southsea area of Portsmouth, Hampshire, was now being searched in connection with the investigation.
A spokesman said: "Officers investigating the disappearance of Vicky Hamilton are currently carrying out searches of a house in the Southsea area of Hampshire."
Vicky had been travelling from Livingston to her home near Falkirk and was changing buses when she disappeared.
She was last seen in George Square, Bathgate, just after 5:35pm on 10 February, 1991.
Eyewitnesses described seeing her sitting on a bench eating chips.
One of Scotland's biggest missing person inquiries followed, with more than 7,000 people interviewed, 4,000 statements taken and 12,000 documents seized.
A breakthrough appeared to have been made in June with the search by forensic officers of a house in Bathgate's Robertson Avenue.
The property's current residents were moved out for several weeks while the operation was carried out.
An arrest was made the following month but the Crown Office said yesterday that the man, Tobin, had yet to appear in court.
The house at the centre of yesterday's search is in Victoria Road North, Southsea.
It is a popular residential area of Portsmouth and borders the Solent shoreline.
Officers are thought to have started examining the terraced property on Friday last week. The building has been cordoned off and a police officer stood outside yesterday morning.
A tent could be seen in the back garden.
Julie Somerville, 55, a neighbour, said she had been shocked when she found out about the police activity at the house next door.
She said: "It all started over the weekend. They arrived here on Friday and I saw all the police - they were outside the door, guarding the door.
"The marquee went up in the back garden on Monday, then all the forensic officers in their white suits turned up and they were all in there.
"Then, yesterday morning, I could hear the banging and drilling going on, so I knew something serious was going on.
"You see this sort of thing going on on the television, but when it's next door to you, it's a bit of a shock."
She went on: "The police said it's nothing to worry about, but when you see the forensic officers and the way they were taking stuff outside the house, it is a bit of a worry."
