97 new leads in hunt for Milly's murderer

Detectives investigating the murder of Milly Dowler are pursuing 97 new leads as they hope finally to catch her killer.

Officers made a fresh appeal for information after prime suspect Levi Bellfield was convicted of murdering two young women.

They hope some of the former doorman's criminal associates will break the wall of silence that has hampered their six-year inquiry.

A Surrey Police spokeswoman said some of the calls are " potentially significant" and officers are pleased with the new information.

Milly, 13, disappeared while walking home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in 2002.

Bellfield was told this week he will die in jail after being found guilty of murdering Marsha McDonnell, 19, and Amélie Delagrange, 22.

Bellfield's girlfriend lived near Milly's home and police are desperate to trace her car, caught on CCTV at the abduction scene.

Police are reviewing two other unsolved murders to see if there are links to the doorman. Patsy Morris, 14, who is reported to have dated Bellfield, was found dead near her home in Hounslow in 1980. Widow Judith Gold was bludgeoned to death in Hampstead in 1990.