Caroline man finally admits he killed her

The man convicted of murdering schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson admitted killing her for the first time today.

Francisco Arce Montes told a French court that he had not had any intention of killing the 13-year-old, calling her death "an accident".

The Spanish waiter was sentenced to 30 years in jail last year for Caroline's murder in Brittany in 1996.

In France an appeal against a conviction is an automatic right and takes the form of a retrial. Asked by Judge Jean-Luc Buckel whether he accepted that he had raped Caroline the night she died, Montes, 55, from Gijon, replied: "Yes". But when he left he did not think she was dead.

Montes said: "It was the result of the rape. I didn't go into her room to kill her."

Montes had gone to the hostel in Pleine Fougè²¥s where Caroline and her fellow pupils from Cornwall were staying and covered her mouth to stop her cries while raping her.

In a statement read to the court detailing the findings of the first trial, Montes was described as a sexual predator with a preference for girls aged between 12 and 15.

The case continues.